


Look After You

by littleharrie



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Adoption, Age Play Little Harry Styles, Age Play Little Niall Horan, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Infantilism, Multi, Non-Sexual Age Play, Okay definitely some angst, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, but only like a little bit here and there, dont worry, like a tiny bit, maybe a little bit of angst
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2018-11-17 06:42:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 45,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11270106
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleharrie/pseuds/littleharrie
Summary: “Harry, do you know why people like Louis and me come to the center?”Harry’s eyebrows drew together as he considered Zayn’s question, after a moment he shook his head.“Well, places like this one are set up so that caretakers can find littles to take home with them to be a family. That’s why we were here a couple of weeks ago, so that we could meet a little boy or girl that we really like and have a… a playdate with them later, to make sure they like us right back, hopefully enough to come home with us.”Zayn could practically see gears turning in Harry’s head.“Do you like me?” Harry asked quietly and looked between the two men.“We do, Harry. We like you a lot.” Louis smiled. “Do you like us?”Harry nodded. “You’re nice. Like you a lot.”;;just a fluffly little ageplay piece





	1. Chapter 1

Ed was almost home, and he was feeling dejected. It was raining and he had no way to get home other than to walk. The slot he had scheduled at a local bar’s open mic had been canceled in favor of some band who bribed their way into it, and it was too late to catch a bus back to his apartment. With his hood pulled tight over his head and his guitar case weighing him down almost as much as his frustration, he was more than ready to turn in for the night. He was about three blocks away from his place when a slight figure caught his attention.   
   
Ed lived in a busy city. It was hardly a rarity to see people ducking into alleyways, but something about this person made Ed pause. He stepped closer to the alley and got a better look. He looked like a kid. Ed might not have been the greatest judge of age but he was certain that the person in front of him couldn't have been any older than seventeen. Normally, when he saw people out on the street or in alleyways he did the smart thing and kept to himself.   
   
But this kid was ducked under an old fire escape, hunched in on himself, and wearing nothing but canvas sneakers, ratty jeans and a thin zip-up hoodie over a t-shirt. He looked like he was ninety pounds, soaking wet. Ed was a sucker. He approached the boy cautiously.   
   
“Hey,” He spoke gently but still loud enough to be heard over the rain falling against the metal of the fire escape.   
   
The boy startled, his eyes were wide and frightened as he stared at Ed.   
   
“Hey, hey, don't worry. It's okay. My name’s Ed. I don't want anything from you. I just want to ask you a question.”   
   
The boy remained frozen. He was clearly wary of Ed, and Ed couldn't blame him, the kid almost looked like a wild animal. Ed didn't even know where to begin to guess how long it looked like he had been out on the streets.   
   
“Is it okay if I ask you a question?” Ed stepped just the slightest bit closer.   
   
The kid didn't reply, he just stared at Ed.   
   
“What's your name?” Ed went ahead with his question.   
   
“Harry.” Came a quiet reply.   
   
Ed smiled warmly, wanting Harry to feel comfortable and not regret interacting. “It's nice to meet you, Harry. I'm sure you're cold out here in this weather.” He got just the slightest nod in response. “You know, I was just about to go get some dinner, and I’d love some company. Are you hungry?” It was a lie. Ed wasn’t hungry in the slightest, but it was plain to see that Harry wasn’t exactly getting regular meals.   
   
Ed knew it was a slim chance that Harry would say yes. The odds of the stranger inviting you off the street to eat with them having good intentions were not often very high. But Ed just felt drawn to try and help Harry anyway.   
   
Harry glanced Ed up and down once more, and he must have assessed Ed wasn’t much of a threat. He nodded quickly and stepped closer to Ed, indicating he was going to follow him.   
   
Ed lead Harry just two blocks in the opposite direction of his apartment to a 24 hour diner. He tried to walk quickly so that they wouldn't be in the rain for too much longer, but not so quickly that he left Harry, who was very timid even with the steps he took, trailing too far behind.   
   
Once they were sitting in a booth in the diner, Ed was finally able to get a better look at Harry, seeing how he was no longer shrouded by the shadows of the city buildings  
   
Now that he saw the boy’s pale skin and wide green eyes, Ed was beginning to suspect he overestimated Harry’s age. In the fluorescent lighting, Harry barely looked fifteen. His cheeks still had the slightest bit of baby fat to them, as if he still had one more growth spurt to endure before adulthood. His curly hair was damp and ratty, no doubt from living outdoors for who knows how long, if Ed had to guess he’d say it had been a couple weeks since Harry last washed it.   
   
A waitress with a tired smile approached their table with two menus.   
   
“Hey there, my name’s Deborah, and I’ll be your waitress tonight. What can I get you boys to drink?”   
   
“I think two waters,” Ed said, wanting to Harry to be hydrated, but he also did not want to choose for Harry. So he turned to look at him and gage his reaction. “What do you think, Harry? Water?”   
   
Harry just nodded, barely looking up at the waitress. Ed’s mind kept racing at each new mannerism he noticed in Harry. He was clearly shy and seemingly innocent and trusting. Ed picked up his menu and Harry mirrored him. “What do you think you’re going to get?” Ed asked, wanting to get Harry talking at least a little.   
   
Harry looked up with a puzzled look on his face. ‘You mean… I get to pick?”   
   
Ed’s brow furrowed. “Of course you do. Do you see anything you like?”   
   
Harry didn’t reply, he seemed to be lost looking at the pictures of the menu items. Ed noticed Harry’s eyes lingering on the picture of the kid’s option for pancakes, with chocolate chip eyes, a strawberry nose, and a whipped cream smile. Ed liked the sound of pancakes, and he had a creeping suspicion that Harry would be too shy to voice what he wanted. So he figured he would try to ease that.   
   
“I think I’m gonna get chocolate chip pancakes. They’re my favorite. Do you like chocolate chip pancakes?”  
   
Harry smiled and nodded, and Ed was sure to return his smile, especially as Harry began to voice a thought.  
   
“B-but I like blueberry the best.”   
   
“Well you're in luck,” Ed found himself speaking in an excited tone, the same way he speaks to his friend’s young children. “This place has great blueberry pancakes.”  
   
The waitress returned then and Harry shrunk back into himself, accepting his water without looking up from the tabletop.   
   
“Are you ready to order, or do you need a few more minutes?” She asked sweetly.   
   
“No, I think we're ready. I'll have some chocolate chip pancakes and a side of bacon.” Ed answered.   
   
The woman nodded and jotted down his order. “And you, dear?” She looked to Harry.   
   
Harry nodded to the menu in front of him and pointed to the picture of a stack of pancakes. “Blueberry, please.”   
   
The woman smiled gently at the boy before closing her notepad. “Sounds good, I'll get those out to you in a jiffy.”  
   
“Oh, and could we get whipped cream on both those orders?” Ed spoke up sending a sly smile and a wink to Harry and getting the boy to giggle.   
   
“Sure thing!” The waitress grinned before walking away.   
   
Ed was almost certain now that Harry wasn’t just some homeless teenager. The way he acted, especially in reaction to Ed’s gentle encouraging made it more and more clear to Ed that he was probably a little.   
   
Ed had never actually met a little. The odds of someone being a little was about equal to someone having naturally red hair. Common enough to not be an oddity, but still rare. Of course, he had seen littles. Living in a city as large as he did he could see a caregiver or a caregiver couples walking down the streets with their littles either walking hand in hand or sitting in strollers whenever the weather was nice. The littles always seemed exactly that, little, from afar. They would wear childish clothing; onesies, tutus, overalls, big bows, even bibs, all with bright colors and wild patterns. They were almost always loud and open, happy to see new people and interact.    
   
And even though Harry was wearing dirty, oversized clothes and seemed to shrink into himself at even the slightest chance of interaction, Ed was all but positive. But he couldn’t just ask Harry whether or not he was a little. It was way too personal a question, even if Ed had known Harry for years. So Ed figured he would treat this like an experiment, and he needed to test his theory.   
   
Sitting on the table, by the wall, were all sorts of things expected of a diner to have. There was a napkin dispenser, condiments, specials menus, and, to Ed’s satisfaction, there were kid’s activity sheets and two small boxes of cheap crayons. He grabbed one sheet to start off with and opened the crayons so he could pour them out onto the table. There were only four colors but Ed wasn't picky. He grabbed the blue crayon and began to scribble in the fur of a cartoon cat.   
   
Harry stared as Ed did this, clearly confused that the older man would do something so childish without worrying who saw.   
   
Ed pulled out another activity sheet and placed it front of Harry. “D'you want one?”   
   
Harry bit his lip, thinking it over before nodding and grabbing the second box of crayons on his own. He seemed put off at the lack of color options but began to fill in a cartoon garden scene anyway.   
   
Ed made sure to pay close attention to Harry as he colored, glancing up at him every few minutes as to not make it too obvious. The boy probably wouldn't have noticed, though, if Ed did just stare straight at him. Harry had his brow furrowed and his tongue sticking out just slightly in concentration. His hand was clumsy as it gripped the crayons. Part of Ed was expecting the colors to be all over the place and sloppy like a child’s but it still took him by surprise when he saw Harry’s handiwork.   
   
Harry had filled in most of his picture and looked awfully satisfied with himself. He was so focused on his drawing at he almost didn’t react to the waitress approaching the table. She seemed unfazed by two boys well past childhood coloring on the activity sheets and just placed a bottle of maple syrup and their orders down in front of them with a smile on her face.   
   
“You two enjoy, and let me know if you need anything.” She said as she walked away.   
   
Harry startled when she spoke and his whole face turned red when it dawned on him that she saw him coloring. Ed just thanked her and smiled politely as she walked away. He grabbed the maple syrup and once he covered his stack he held it out to Harry who just shook his head, his mouth already full of blueberry pancake.   
   
After they were both about halfway through with their pancakes, Ed decided to start a conversation and steer it in a way to learn more about Harry.   
   
“So, Harry, it’s okay if you don’t want to answer this but, I have to ask.” He started, doing his best to keep his voice calm and reassuring.  
   
Harry still looked wary as he nodded in understanding. He slowly lifted his fork back to his mouth, but his hand shook just slightly as he did and he ended up with whipped cream smeared at the corner of his mouth.   
   
“Have you been living outside? Or do you have a place you can go where you can sleep?”   
   
Harry kept quiet.   
   
“Harry, did you run away from home?”   
   
The last word out of Ed’s mouth seemed to have struck a nerve with Harry.   
   
“I… I, um,” Harry looked much more like that frightened kid from the alleyway than he did a minute ago. He swallowed thickly before looking Ed in the eyes and quickly looked away. “I… P-please… Don’t… I,” Harry stammered, clearly trying to communicate something.  
   
“Hey, hey, hey,” Ed cut in. “Don’t worry. You’re okay.” He saw tears building up in Harry’s eyes.   
   
“I don’t wanna go back.”  Harry whispered, his small voice thick as if he was about to start sobbing.   
   
Ed’s brow furrowed, this opened an entirely new door of insight into why Harry’s been acting the way he has been acting.   
   
“I won’t make you go anywhere, buddy. But I do have to ask you another question, and it is very important that you tell me the truth, alright. Do you understand?” Once he registered the slightest nod from Harry, he spoke again. “Did your mom or dad hurt you? In any way?”   
   
Harry’s face fell. “Don't have ‘em”  
   
“You don't have what?”  
   
“Don't got a mommy and daddy. Got Mis’er and Miss-us Cow-wool” He explained, articulating the names slowly, as if he was worried about getting them wrong.   
   
Like a foster home? Ed wondered. He didn’t ask because he wasn’t sure if Harry would even have an answer. “And would they hurt you?”  
   
“When ‘m bad.” Ed’s heart almost shattered at the tone of Harry’s voice.   
   
“Harry, I have a friend who works somewhere that helps kids like you find safe places to live, away from people like that.” Ed didn’t specify that by ‘kids like you’ he meant littles. “If you want, you can stay the night at my house, and I can take you to meet her tomorrow.”   
   
Harry looked skeptical and worried, he glanced down at his almost empty plate and the activity sheet that he has swept aside. He looked back up to Ed. “She’s like you? She’ll be nice?”   
   
“Of course, Harry. I promise everyone who works there is very nice.” Ed signaled to the waitress that he was ready for the bill.   
   
Once the bill was paid Ed led Harry out of the diner, happy to see that the rain had let up. By the time they reached Ed’s apartment Harry had yawned at least four times. He followed Ed almost blindly from room to room as Ed dropped his guitar off in the living room, walked through the kitchen, and into Ed’s bedroom. Ed picked out some spare pajamas and showed Harry the bathroom and how to work the shower. While Harry cleaned himself up Ed rummaged through his hallway closet for sheet and blankets to put on his couch. Now that he was alone, he took a moment to think and really let the events of the night sink in. He hoped to god he was right in his assumption that Harry was a little. He sent a text to his friend, Perrie, who worked at a shelter/adoption center that provided a safe haven for homeless kids as well as helped families looking to add littles to their homes. He let her know the situation he was in and that he would bring Harry by tomorrow.   
   
Ed heard the shower cut off and several minutes later Harry emerged from the bathroom, looking fresh faced now that his skin and hair were clean and he was in new clothes. Although the t-shirt Ed leant to him was inside-out, but Ed saw no reason to comment on that. He explained to Harry how the couch was ready for him to sleep on and how if he needed anything Ed showed him one more time which room was his bedroom. And with that he said goodnight to Harry.   
   
;;  
   
The next day, after Ed made quick breakfast, the two headed out to meet with Perrie. At the beginning of the day Harry seemed to be in a good mood. Despite waking Ed up in the middle of the night crying and pacing the living room because he had an accident in his sleep. (Cementing Ed’s decision to take Harry to the little adoption center.) Ed supposed he handled the situation well, considering Harry was much more lively than the night before, and responded vocally to almost everything Ed said to him.   
   
Harry’s good mood lasted up until they were standing in front of the tall building. It was almost as if he wanted shrink as he tried to hide behind Ed.   
   
“Hey, don't be like that.” Ed said calmly. “Remember, my friends in there are nice. I promise.”  
   
Harry looked up to Ed and back at the building. He didn't look very confident but he still nodded, ready to follow Ed inside.   
   
Inside, Ed was quick to explain Harry’s situation and how they were here to meet with Perrie. The secretary was happy to give both of them the passes denoting they were here for ‘consultation’ and point them in the direction of Perrie’s office.   
   
The entire first floor was just offices and conference rooms, Ed remembered Perrie telling him once. She explained that all of the bedrooms and nurseries and playrooms for the littles were on the upper floors for safety reasons.   
   
Harry seemed to grow anxious the farther down the hallway they went. Ed knocked on the door marked ‘Perrie Edwards’ once began it was opened.   
   
Perrie was smiling brightly as she welcomed Ed and Harry in and asked them to sit in the plush chairs in front of her desk.   
   
“You must be Harry.” She spoke gently with a warm smile, doing her very best to put him at ease.   
   
Harry only nodded, but he did look calmer than he did in the hallway.   
   
“I just have a couple of questions to ask you, alright. Don't worry if you aren't sure how to answer. Just tell me if you're not sure and we can move on to the next question.” Perrie explained, typing something into her computer.   
   
“Okay.” Harry answered, wringing his hands together.   
   
“First one is super easy. What is your full name?”   
   
“Harry Edward Styles.” He sounded out each syllable.   
   
“Alright,” Perrie continued to type. “When is your birthday, Harry?”   
   
“‘S Feb-yoo-wary first.”   
   
“Okay, and how old are you going to be on your next birthday?”   
   
“Um… sic-sixteen,” Harry sounded like he was asking more than telling.   
   
Perrie asked Harry more questions, which Ed recognized as questions that would help determine Harry’s status as a little without him catching on.   
   
“Okay, Harry, thank you for answering those questions for me. Now, are you hungry at all?” Perrie asked looking at Harry.   
   
Harry seemed a little confused but nodded and subconsciously held a hand to his stomach.   
   
Perrie giggled at Harry’s reaction, causing Harry to smile in return. “Well, it's about lunchtime for some of the kids. Would you like to go get some food while I ask Eddie here a couple more questions?”   
   
This had Harry even more confused, but after Perrie’s continued smiling along with an encouraging nod from Ed the boy agreed to go get some lunch. Perrie called in one of her coworkers to escort Harry there.   
   
Once Ed and Perrie were alone in the office, Perrie looked at Ed with a steely expression. “You were right to bring him here, Ed.”   
   
“Okay?” Ed was glad to hear this, except Perrie’s tone was anything but congratulatory.   
   
“I looked him up and found his file almost instantly. It isn't good.”  
   
“What do you mean? Like he’s some delinquent?”  
   
“It's not Harry that’s wrong with the file, Ed. Tell me, how long did it take you to figure out Harry was a little?” Perrie raised an eyebrow.   
   
“I don't know, fifteen minutes? I guess. I mean, that's when I started thinking maybe he was one. It wasn’t till the middle of last night when I knew without a doubt.”   
   
“So, fairly quickly, especially considering you’re not a professional. Not very long is the point I’m trying to make. According to this, Harry has been in the system since he was four years old. That's eleven years he has been around social workers and _not one_ has made the connection he isn't just another teenager?” Ed could hear the agitation growing in Perrie’s voice.   
   
“Well, I mean…” Ed started to speak but he had no idea what to say.   
   
“It says that his legal guardians are a foster family that he was placed in the care of when he was twelve. And according to this, they don't foster littles. They're just a standard foster couple! Typically, twelve to thirteen is when the first signs of someone being a little show up. And by the time they reach fifteen or sixteen, it's confirmed by whether or not those signs still show. Harry’s fifteen and I can say without a doubt that he is a little. He should have been moved to a facility like this or a little-centric foster home years ago.”   
   
The passion Perrie had as she explained all of this had Ed feeling like he was being lectured for responsibility over Harry's situation.   
   
“I can also say without a doubt, after what you told me he said, and his own answers to my questions, that wherever that kid ran away from, before you found him, scared him shitless. _Best_ case scenario is that his foster family didn't catch the signs that he was a little and as his potential headspace traits began to manifest, these people were not prepared to handle them, so they just treated that little boy like any other thirteen or fourteen year old.”   
   
“And the worst case scenario?” Ed asked slowly.   
   
“I don't even want to begin to speculate the worst case scenario, Ed. I hate to be a pessimist. But, I can't deny the truth probably leans toward the worst. I mean, you said he looked like he’d been on the streets for a while, and nothing came up about him being reported missing. There should have been something!” Perrie cut herself off and took a deep breath.   
   
“What matters now is that you got him where he needs to be. Now that he’s here, I’m going to contact some people to launch an investigation into his old foster family, make sure that it was just them being misinformed or ill-prepared and not something worse. I also need to get started on Harry’s enrollment here. I need medical files, contact information, might need to call in a specialist. Have to figure out his exact headspace” Perrie began to move around her desk, finding a pen and notepad, at this point she was talking more to herself than to Ed.   
   
Ed stuck around to fill in what details he could about Harry. Before long, Ed was leaving the adoption center with a promise from Perrie to let him know how Harry handles the change.  
   
;;  
   
Harry liked Miss Perrie’s friends. Ed was right, they were all nice. After he had answered a couple of questions in her office, a nice lady named Miss Caroline helped show Harry to a brightly colored room upstairs. There were already a lots of other kids sitting at the tables eating a very yummy looking lunch. Harry felt a tight feeling in his tummy looking at all of the new people, he froze.   
   
“Do you like mac and cheese?” Miss Caroline asked him, drawing his attention away from the full tables.   
   
Harry nodded slowly and took a few steps when he felt her hand on his lower back. “There’s a seat right over here for you.” She led him to a table with three littles.   
   
“Benji, Lexie, JJ? I have a new friend here; his name is Harry. Would you three like to eat lunch with him?” Caroline spoke to the other littles, smiling encouragingly.   
   
“Okay!” One of the little boys said right away with a grin before he scooped some macaroni into his mouth. “Hi Harry!” This caused Miss Caroline to give him a stern look for talking with his mouth full, but she didn’t even scold him for it, Harry noted.  
   
Harry sat down next to the girl, who introduced herself as Lexie, and said a quiet thank you to Miss Caroline when she placed a sectioned plate and a sippy cup in front of him. He looked down at the food on his plate, there was macaroni, blueberries and halved grapes, and little pieces of grilled chicken. It looked so good, Harry could hardly believe it was all for him. He looked around at all the other boys and girls eating theirs before he tentatively picked up a piece of chicken and put it in his mouth.   
   
He looked around more as he chewed. The walls were decorated with drawings and paintings. One wall was covered with colorful handprints with names written neatly underneath each one. Finally, Harry looked over at the far end of the room and noticed that some boy and girls weren’t sitting at tables at all. They were each in their own chairs that sat taller than the tables and some of them were being fed their lunch by workers instead of feeding themselves. Harry stared until he heard his name being called.   
   
“Hellooo!” Lexie was waving her hand in Harry’s face.   
   
“Sorry,” Harry dropped his gaze.   
   
“You didn’ answer, Harry.” Benji pointed out.  
   
“Answer what?”   
   
“Lexie asked you your favorite color.” JJ supplied. “Mine’s orange because I like tigers. They’re orange except for their stripes, those are black.”   
   
“I like blue,” Harry said after a beat. “Really pretty blue, l-like the sky when the sun is outside.”   
   
Lexie nodded before giving her reason why blue was also her favorite color. Harry listened more than he spoke as lunchtime continued but for once, he liked listening to the people around him talk so much, they all seemed very nice.   
   
“All right, boys and girls,” A man said loudly drawing the attention of all the littles in the room. “Finish up and start cleaning up, lunchtime is almost over. And you know what that means!”   
   
“After lunchtime, we get playtime!” Benji explained to Harry.  
   
All of the other boys and girls carried their plates to a tray by the door before falling into an excited line.   
   
Harry followed closely behind Benji, feeling anxious again, but not in a bad way.   
   
Before the man opened the door to lead the line of littles to the playroom, Miss Perrie showed up and immediately headed over to Harry. She gently placed her hand on his shoulder. “Harry, sweetie, before you go have playtime, I need you to come with me for just a little bit.”  
   
“Oh, okay.” Harry stepped out of the line.   
   
“But Miss Perrie!” Lexie whined from behind the two boys. “Harry was gonna play with us!”   
   
“Now, Alexa,” Perrie responded in a calm, authoritative voice. “We’ve talked about having an attitude.”  
   
“Sorry, Miss Perrie.”   
   
“It’s okay, sweetheart. Don’t worry, Harry will be back to play before you know it.”  
   
Harry was led back downstairs but not back to Miss Perrie's office. Instead she showed Harry into a room of about the same size. Though it looked bigger because it didn't have a desk or any chairs. Perrie sat down on the fuzzy carpet next to a toy chest and invited Harry to sit down across from her.   
   
“Playtime in here?” Harry asked, his eyebrows furrowing as he sat down. He ran his fingers through the fuzzy carpet.   
   
“Sort of,” Perrie explained, pulling out a few toys out of the chest. “I want to talk to you again, but I thought we could have fun while we talked. What toy do you want to play with? Pick whichever one you want.”   
   
Harry spent a long time looking over all the toys in front of him. His eyes were drawn to the building blocks. They were big and made of foam and there were lots of different shapes and colors. He tentatively grabbed a yellow cube and held it with both hands. He looked up at Miss Perrie, who returned his smile and began to slowly stack more blocks on top of each other to encourage Harry to play along. It took a few minutes before Harry let go of the yellow block. It took gentle words from Miss Perrie but he finally reached to place the block at the top of her little tower. Harry grinned as he added more. As he looked at the tower, an idea popped into his head and before he could weigh the options and outcomes, he acted. He pushed his hand out against one of the lower blocks in the tower and watched as the foam blocks came crashing down onto the carpet.   
   
As soon as he did it he froze, scared Miss Perrie would get upset with him for ruining their tower, but, to Harry’s surprise, she cheered as the tower fell.   
   
“Wasn’t that fun? Let’s make another one!” She said enthusiastically.   
   
Harry couldn’t believe she wasn’t angry with him. But he did not want to risk her losing this good mood, so he continued to play and helped build another tower, adding more blocks this time. After he had placed a pink triangular block on top, Miss Perrie looked at him expectantly, and he pushed one block out of place to make the whole thing toppled down. He giggled as Miss Perrie cheered again.   
   
Harry played this game for quite a while, and when he grew bored of it, Miss Perrie suggested a new one. Harry couldn’t believe all the fun he was having. Throughout his playtime in this room, Miss Perrie would ask Harry questions as they set up each new game. She had told him that they needed to get to know each other. She would ask him a question about himself and if he wanted to, he could ask her anything he wanted to know about her in return.   
   
She asked Harry about lots of things. His favorite foods, the ones he ate for very special occasions, and his favorite things to have for ordinary meals; any vacations he’d been on, and all the different places he’s moved to; what he liked to learn at school, his favorite classes and pastimes, how he got along with classmates. She even asked a few questions about the house he used to live in before he met Ed. Harry didn’t want to talk about that, but he knew Miss Perrie would be sad if he stopped talking to her. He wanted to be her friend, so he gave the shortest answers he could for those questions.   
   
It wasn’t long before Harry was having trouble focusing on the toys in front of him. He had had a lot of juice at lunchtime and that had been so long ago! He could feel the pinching sensation just below his belly and he started to squirm on the carpet, having no idea what to do. He had an accident at Ed’s house last night and he had been so scared when he woke up in the middle of the night to soaked pants and a wet spot on the couch. He was terrified that Ed would get furious and kick him out.   
   
But Ed didn’t do that at all. He had calmed Harry down and loaned him another set of pajamas and even let him sleep in the bedroom while Ed cleaned the couch and fell asleep in the recliner. Harry remembered being so shocked by all of that. Ed was probably the nicest person he knew, and Perrie and Ed were friends, so surely she would be just as nice if he did have an accident. But still, he didn’t want to make a mess, so he began to build up his courage to ask her for some help.   
   
“Uh…” He looked up to meet the woman’s eye line but just as quickly, he dropped his gaze back down to the toys in front of him.   
   
“Harry,” Miss Perrie placed a gentle hand on Harry’s wrist. “Do you need to use the bathroom?”   
   
Harry felt his face flame, but he was too concerned with the risk of having an accident to deny it. He felt so stupid being so obvious, but he couldn’t focus on that for long. He nodded and Miss Perrie immediately helped him to stand up and led him out into the hallway to a door marked to be a family bathroom. She opened the door for him and waited patiently for him to finish.   
   
When he came back out of the bathroom, Miss Perrie explained that she just had a few more things to talk with him about and then he could go back upstairs with everyone else.  
   
“Harry, I don’t want you to be embarrassed but I need you to answer honestly. Know that no one here is going to make fun of you okay? Do you sometimes have trouble making it to the bathroom in time?”   
   
Harry gnawed at his lower lip, refusing to look Perrie in the eye as he nodded.   
   
“Like I said, sweetheart, no one here is going to make fun of you. Most of the other little boys and girls here wear pull-ups and diapers.”  
   
Harry’s eyes widened at the mention of diapers. “Not, no… N-Not a baby.” He muttered, his eyes growing damp.   
   
“Oh, Harry, did the people you lived with make it seem bad to be a baby?”   
   
“More trouble th’n ‘m worth,” Harry dropped his gaze back to the carpet, but Perrie placed her hand under his chin to have him look at her as she spoke.   
   
“Harry, it’s very important that you listen to me. Whatever they told you about being a baby, it was not true. Understand?” Perrie had a very serious look in her eyes but her tone remained calming for Harry’s sake. “Did you have fun eating lunch with Benji and Lexie and JJ?   
   
Harry nodded eagerly. That was an easy question for him to answer. Those three had been so nice to him right away, and they were even disappointed when they learned he would have playtime with Miss Perrie instead of with them.   
   
“Well, did you know that Benji, Lexie, and JJ all need diapers? Mhm, and they sleep in their cribs at night, just like babies should. And you would never make fun of your new friends for any of that, would you?”  
   
Harry shakes his head desperately. He would never ever be mean to those three, especially if they all wanted to be his friends.  
   
“Exactly, and I promise you no one is going to make you feel bad for using things you need. But if they do, you can tell me or Miss Caroline or any other worker and we will help you.”  
   
“Promise,” Harry mumbled.   
   
“Yes, Harry, I promise. It is my job to make sure all of the little boys and girls here are well taken care of, happy, and find good parents to live with.” And with that, Miss Perrie led Harry back upstairs to join the other littles for the rest of playtime.  
   
;;  
   
Harry liked this new place. He had been living at the adoption center for over a month. It took him awhile to get used to. He still wasn’t totally used to wearing his diapers, and getting diaper changes, or sleeping in the soft crib-like beds provided for the younger headspaced littles. No one was mean to him and the food was always good. He was confused the first time he noticed a little was no longer living at the center. He got scared when he noticed Rosie was gone, for good according the other littles. But Miss Perrie easily explained that everything was okay and Rosie had been adopted by a very nice mommy and daddy. She explained that two or three times a month, caretakers would come to the adoption center and meet the littles in an open house of sorts. And if the caretakers took to a particular little they could request to meet with the little and get to know them one-on-one. If that went well, then the adoption could be processed.   
   
It was all a very strict process. Caretakers could only attend open houses after having an application approved, which in itself was rather complicated. It involved a paper application, an interview, and a home inspection. And one-on-one sessions with a little could only happen if the little agreed, and a worker at the center would be right outside of the room if the little became uncomfortable. It gave this adoption center a very prestigious and sought after reputation. Not that Perrie explained all of that Harry. She did, however, explain to Harry that he could go to the next open house in a few weeks, if he wanted to.  
   
Harry wasn’t sure if he wanted to. It sounded nice, sure, the way that Miss Perrie described it, but Harry’s mind could only connect it to going to live in foster homes. The very temporary and bleak places he would be moved to time and again throughout his childhood. The idea of being permanently apart of a happy family was still a very new concept for Harry. It was exciting to him in a frightening way.


	2. Chapter 2

“You ready?” Louis reached across the console of the car and squeezed Zayn’s hand.  
   
“I think so,” Zayn breathed out. “I just, I don’t want to get my hopes up. I mean, sure, we might finally find the perfect little for us, but even if we do, there’s still so many steps to take before we can bring them home.”  
   
“I know, babe, but we have to start sometime.” Louis smiled at his husband.  
   
“And honestly, I’m a little worried we _will_ find out perfect little today.”  
   
Louis’ brow furrowed. “Why is that something to worry about?”  
   
“Because you and I both know we’ll be tempted to take them home right away, with or without adoption papers.” Zayn grinned as he explained.  
   
“And so what if we do?” Louis laughed.  
   
“Be serious, Lou. This is our future child we are talking about. I don’t want to jeopardize anything.”  
   
Louis’ mischievous grin softened into a fond smile. “I love you.”  
   
Zayn lifted their clasped hands and brought Louis’ knuckles to his lips, planting a quick kiss. “I love you too. Now we should head inside, Liam said it was a long process before he actually got to the littles,”  
   
“This kid had better be worth all the bureaucracy,” Louis snipes melodramatically, getting a laugh from Zayn.  
   
Once inside, Zayn and Louis were sat in a room with other caretakers hoping to adopt. They were given a debrief on the adoption process and all of the rules they were to follow once they were allowed upstairs to interact with the littles.  
   
Louis was beginning to grow impatient, no matter how necessary he knew it all was.  
   
The entire process took a half hour before the entire group was led upstairs to the second floor. There the employee, wearing a nametag with Caroline printed on it, addressed the group again.  
   
“So, this floor is primarily playrooms, both large for the playtime we have set in our everyday schedule and small for caretakers interacting with a little one-on-one. Now, we understand that you may be looking for a little in a specific headspace, so we assign our larger playrooms age ranges. This one is for our littles in newborn to eighteen month headspaces. The next is our eighteen month to three years’ room. And the room across the hall from that one is for littles in headspaces older than three years. Almost all of the littles participating in the open house have reached a permanent headspace, though there is always a chance for change. Now, you are free to come and go between the three playrooms and meet the littles. Please keep our regulations in mind, and have a nice day.” Caroline recited in a professional and kind tone.  
   
Some of the caretakers immediately moved to a particular room, while others, like Zayn and Louis, took their time deciding where to start.  
   
“What do you think?” Zayn asked his husband, looking at the doors in front of them.  
   
“I dunno.” Louis weighed his options. “How about the eighteen months to three years? Start in the middle? Get a feel for which room to check out next. If we want to, that is.”  
   
“What do you mean ‘If we want to,’?” Zayn asked, feeling worried.  
   
“We might meet our baby in this room.” Louis winked before walking in the direction of the room they decided on.  
   
Inside the eighteen month to three years’ room there were many littles. Most were playing amongst themselves even though more caretakers came to this room than the other two.  
   
“First open house?” A worker asked from where she stood supervising the room.  
   
“Um, yes.” Zayn answered, clearly embarrassed.  
   
“No worries, I completely understand. Would you like me to introduce you to one of our littles?”  
   
Zayn looked to Louis for his input, wanting it to be a joint decision.  
   
“Sure, thank you.” Louis answered for the two of them.  
   
“Do you have a picture in mind? Boy? Girl? A specific headspace?”  
   
“Nothing in particular. We’ll be happy so long as the little is happy.” Zayn explained.  
   
“That’s what I like to hear.” The worker winked and motioned for them to follow her.  
   
Walking through the playroom, Zayn paid attention to the other caretakers interacting with littles. One daddy was gently tossing a ball back and forth with a little girl whose young headspace made it difficult for her to properly catch the ball, but he still cheered every time she tried, making her giggle. Another little girl was talking to two mommies about dressing up dolls. All of it just made Zayn’s heart swell with how badly he wanted a little of his own.  
   
“Oh, here we go,” The worker stopped, keeping her eye on a little boy who was happily playing with a toy castle all by himself. “This is his first open house as well, so I’m sure he will be comforted to know he isn't the only one that is new to all of this.” She winked at the pair. “Just keep in mind, he hasn't quite found his exact headspace, and he may still shy about showing his little side to new people.”  
   
“Thank you for your help.” Louis shook the woman's hand before she walked away to help a little who started crying for a diaper change.  
   
Louis was the first to approach the little boy, Zayn stood and waited and watched so as to keep from overwhelming the boy. Even though the two were both born caretakers, and they both grew up caring for younger siblings, Louis still had more experience interacting with children in general, but especially littles. He had a knack for getting on their good sides in no time.  
   
Louis squatted down beside the castle, keeping a warm smile on his face, not that it was a challenge to with how cute the little was in his pale green onesie that complimented his wide green eyes. He was also wearing soft, dark grey shorts and white socks, much like the other littles in the playroom. Everything about him was just precious to Louis.  
   
“Hello, what’s your name?” Louis asked.  
   
“Harry,” The little boy answered softly.  
   
“It is very nice to meet you, Harry! My name is Louis, and this is my husband Zayn.” Louis explained cheerily, pointing Zayn with his thumb. Harry’s gaze quickly shot to Zayn where he was moving to sit down on the other side of Louis, still making sure that Harry did not feel crowded or cornered. “And we are a little overwhelmed with so many people being here, so we were hoping if you could help us figure this place out. What do you say?”  
   
Harry looked wildly confused and just plain surprised. These two grown-ups in front of him wanted his help? That just seemed impossible. But here it was happening. “I-I don’t know how,”  
   
Sensing that Harry was stressing over the way the question was phrased, Louis spoke again. “That’s okay. How about you just tell us about what you’re playing? This castle looks very cool.”  
   
“Yeah, I would love to hear what all of the people in the castle are doing today.” Zayn added, wanting to encourage Harry to lead the way.  
   
This got a smile out of Harry. He loved playing with the castle. He loved all of the knights and the princesses and the horses that came with it. “Today is their big party.” He explained, his voice almost a whisper. As he spoke he moved to pick up a figurine. “Mr. King invited everyone for a dance.”  
   
“That was very nice of the king, do you think we could come to the big party? It sounds like fun.”  
   
Harry nodded, he knew it was nice to share. He picked two knights and handed one to each man.  
   
The two played with Harry until the little’s eyes began to droop, and the worker in charge noticed. She approached the boy and asked him if he was ready for his nap. Harry nodded and stood up to hold the worker’s hand so she could walk him to the nurseries on the next floor up.  
   
Zayn and Louis watched Harry go fondly, he rubbed at his eyes with a closed fist before sliding his thumb into his mouth. The husbands shared a look, both wildly endeared.  
   
They spoke with and played with two other littles in the eighteen month to three years’ room. Then they visited the newborn to eighteen month room, but nearly all of the littles in there had fallen to the same fate as Harry and had either been carried upstairs to a nursery, or they were still in the room resting on cozy, low to the ground cots. They interacted with one little girl in a very young headspace who wasn't napping yet. After that they visited the playroom for three and older, it was the largest of the three rooms and the littles were all still very much awake and active. Zayn and Louis played with many little boys and girls in this playroom, all of them sweet and very happy to play games with the grown-ups.  
   
The open house was drawing to a close. One of the head directors, Ms. Edwards, had all of the caretakers follow her back to the room they started in.  
   
“I hope you all enjoyed the time you spent with our lovely littles.” She grinned at the caretakers. “Now, I’m sure some of you made very promising connections. And I’m sure you’d like to set up personal appointments to find out if you’ve found your special little one. The next step is very simple. Before you leave today, fill out these forms,” She motioned to the stacks of papers set on each table. “We have pens for you if you need them. Simply fill out the form to indicate your interest in a certain little, you may request sessions with up to three littles. We will contact you to inform you if the little agrees or declines. In the case of agreement, that is when a one-on-one session will be scheduled.”  
   
“What do you think?” Louis asked Zayn as he grabbed the form.  
   
“Well, let’s think back. We can ask for meetings with three littles, and there are three rooms. Let’s pick our favorites from each room? Does that sound good?”  
   
“Yeah, yeah, good plan. So, three and up room? I really liked Jacqueline, she was fun, sweet.”  
   
“I don’t know. Something about interacting with her just didn’t click, I guess.”  
   
“Click?” Louis raised an eyebrow.  
   
“Yeah, I know it sound cheesy, but I just need to _know_ for sure that I want to bring this little into our family. I didn’t get that with Jacqueline.”  
   
“What about Seth?” Louis suggested.  
   
“He was nice. I did like him more than Jacqueline.”  
   
Louis nodded and jotted down the name Seth on the first sheet of paper. “And Lily was the only little we had the chance to meet in the infant to eighteen month room, but honestly, babe, I don’t think we should try to meet her just because we didn’t see any others in that room.”  
   
“I understand, Lou. We don’t have to fill out all three cards. If we just agree on one little to try and meet, I’m happy.”  
   
Louis smiled. “What about Harry? The first little boy in the middle room. He really liked you.”  
   
Zayn grinned. “He was the sweetest. The way he just opened up to you so quickly.”  
   
“Number one choice?” Louis grabbed the next request form.  
   
“I think he’s my only choice, Louis.”  
   
“Seriously?”  
   
“Yeah. I’ve always known I want a younger little, and I know he isn’t totally in a set headspace, but he was just perfect.”  
   
“You’re so idealistic, Z.” Louis filled out the form. “It’s adorable,”  
   
;;  
   
A week and a half passed and Louis and Zayn received the notification that they were approved to have a one-on-one meeting with Harry. They contacted the adoption center to set up an appointment and the next week they returned to the center.  
   
Before any caretaker was allowed to be alone with a little in one of the private playrooms for these appointments they were required to sit through another meeting with a worker at the adoption center like they are before an open house. Except, they are the only caretakers meeting with the worker. This part of the adoption process is done so that the caretakers looking to can learn about their potential littles specific needs and unique qualities necessary to know before interacting with them in the private session.  
   
The worker meeting with and debriefing Zayn and Louis was Ms. Edwards. She had told them to call her Perrie. Louis was curious as to why the head director of the adoption center was the one they were meeting with. Their friend Liam had adopted his little through this same center almost a year ago and he had to meet with just another worker, not even a low-level director. When Louis asked, as they were walking to Perrie’s office, her response was simply that she would explain.  
   
“So?” Louis spoke up as he, Zayn, and Perrie took their seats in Perrie’s office. “What warrants a debrief being conducted by the adoption center’s head director? Are we extra special?” He joked. “Or are we trouble?”  
   
Perrie sighed. “It’s because of trouble, actually, but not from you or your husband, Mr. Tomlinson.”  
   
“I don’t understand.” Zayn spoke up. “Is Harry a troubled little?”  
   
“Not in the way you’re thinking.” Perrie answered. Louis began to speak again, but Perrie continued. “I am sure you are both aware of the usual process in which a little transitions from their childhood into their new lives, starting at centers such as this one.”  
   
At Zayn and Louis’ affirmations, Perrie continued. “Well, Harry’s circumstances were not at all usual. While he is at the age many littles are when they are brought to centers in order to fully enter their headspaces, he was brought to us by a man who found him on the street.”  
   
“I’m sorry, what?” Louis interrupted, his voice rising in concern.  
   
“According to his records, Harry lost his biological parents when he was four years old. Throughout his childhood he has been moved around from foster home to foster home. The last home he was in, he had been in since age twelve, but there was no evidence of anyone realizing he is a little and having him transferred to an appropriate foster home or an adoption center. Investigations of Harry’s experience in that household are still underway. I can say, what we have discovered so far has not been encouraging. We have tried to talk to him and get him to open up, but we were unable to get very far without upsetting him, so any questioning on Harry’s end has been cancelled until further notice. What we do know is that the man who brought him here, Ed, a good friend of mine, found him on Seventh Street on the third of May. Since Harry, like most littles, does not have an excellent grasp of exact dates, we can only go by Ed’s description of the state of Harry’s clothes and hygiene at the time, determining he had likely run away from the foster home a week and a half, maybe two weeks, prior.”  
   
“Oh my god,” Zayn muttered.  
   
“Harry was hesitant toward his headspace when he first arrived here, but he has made great progress. If today goes well between you and him, and I truly hope it does, it will be your responsibility as his potential caretakers to further ease him into his headspace.”  
   
“Of course.” Louis said as both he and Zayn nodded.  
   
“Wonderful. Now, some advice before I escort you to the room assigned for you and Harry, there are a few more things I need to go over. So along with getting to know Harry and earning his trust, you will need to explain to him that you hope to adopt him. Because of multiple caretakers requesting meetings, we avoid telling the littles the caretakers motivation is adoption. When the little agrees to more than one meeting, we wait until after they have met all of the caretakers and we explain to them and then have the little decide which caregiver or pair of caregivers they liked best. But since Harry only approved of the two of you, you have the option to explain it to him yourselves.  
   
“And finally, just a few tips for interacting with Harry. Like I said, he is still very new into his headspace. Harry’s headspace fluctuates between toddler and closer to eighteen months because of this he likes very simple toys and games. His favorite toy lately has been dollhouses. The overall key I need you two remember is to keep your movements and voices calm, but I’m sure that won’t be a problem.”  
   
Perrie’s phone buzzed. She picked it up off of her desk to read the message. “Alright, Harry is waiting for you in the assigned playroom. Now, for legal reasons, I must remind you two that we have cameras and microphones in all of our playrooms.” Perrie stated in a serious, business-like tone. “So, let’s go.”  
   
Perrie grinned at the two men and stood, leading them to follow her out of her office.  
   
Louis grabbed Zayn’s hand as they followed Perrie up to the second floor and into a small playroom.  
   
“Harry?” She said, gaining the attention of the little sitting on the carpet. “Do you remember Mr. Louis and Mr. Zayn?” She motioned to each man as she said their names.  
   
Harry looked at them, his hands still absent-mindedly fiddling with a stuffed bear dressed as a surgeon. A shy smile came to the little boy’s face as he nodded to Perrie’s question.  
   
Louis and Zayn each returned the smile as they joined him on the carpet, ready to play whatever Harry wanted.  
   
Throughout the meeting, Harry grew continually more trusting of Louis and Zayn. Near the end of the set hour, Harry was sitting in Louis’ lap, using both of his hands to fiddle with one of Louis’.  
   
Zayn knew that if they waited much longer, Harry was going to start getting sleepy.  
   
“Harry, do you know why people like Louis and me come to the center?”  
   
Harry’s eyebrows drew together as he considered Zayn’s question, after a moment he shook his head.  
   
“Well, places like this one are set up so that caretakers can find littles to take home with them to be a family. That’s why we were here a couple of weeks ago, so that we could meet a little boy or girl that we really like and have a… a playdate with them later, to make sure they like us right back, hopefully enough to come home with us.”  
   
Zayn could practically see gears turning in Harry’s head.  
   
“Do you like me?” Harry asked quietly and looked between the two men.  
   
“We do, Harry. We like you a lot.” Louis smiled. “Do you like us?”  
   
Harry nodded. “You’re nice. Like you a lot.”  
   
Zayn and Louis grinned at each other before Louis moved his hands from being wrapped around Harry’s middle to gently tickle his sides. Harry jolted from the initial shock, but he quickly fell into a fit of laughter and tried to squirm out of Louis’ grasp.  
   
;;  
   
The process of officially adopting Harry, after he had such a positive reaction to Louis and Zayn’s interest, was easy.  
   
The couple returned Perrie’s office days later to finalize the paperwork side of the process, and Harry was taken back up to the nurseries with a worker to further help him prepare.  
   
Just as Zayn and Louis signed the last document, there was a knock on the office door. Perrie answered, telling the person on the other side to come in. A male worker entered the office, holding Harry on his hip.  
   
The boy was clearly tired, but as soon as he saw the two men, he lazily reached his arms out toward Louis. All the adults in the room cooed as Louis took the little into his arms.  
   
“Are you ready to go home?” Louis asked softly.  
   
Harry looked nervous, like he was worried he would give the wrong answer.    
   
Zayn leaned toward Harry and took the boy’s hand in his own. “Are you ready for us to be your new daddies?”    
   
This brought a smile to Harry’s features that slowly grew from shy and hidden to the brightest the adults have seen. He moved to hug himself closer to Louis, a soft mutter of “Daddy” almost missed if the room hadn't been so quiet.  
   
“That’s right, sweetheart. Now it’s time to go home with your daddies.” Louis explained, standing up and shifting Harry to rest on his hip.  
   
After Zayn gathered everything the adoption center required they take home to help Harry with his adjustment, the new family made their way out of the building and to Zayn’s SUV.  
   
Getting Harry to let go of Louis so that he could be buckled into his car seat was easier said than done.  
   
After trying the soft tones, as they had grown used to using around the little, Louis decided to try and sound more authoritative. “Harry, you have to let go, right now. I promise everything will be okay. Daddy is going to sit right next to you.” Louis’ resolve broke as he continued speaking. His original plan was to explain to Harry that he would only be in the seat in front of the baby’s along with Zayn, but as he looked at Harry’s eyes, he couldn’t stop himself from promising to stay beside his little boy.  
   
Once Harry was finally buckled in and Louis was situated beside him, Zayn started the car, shooting Louis a knowing glance while he was turned around to back the car out of its parking space. Louis ignored his husband in favor of grabbing a hold of Harry’s hand to settle his nerves.  
   
Harry kept his eye line down throughout the car ride, staring at his hand that was still holding onto Louis’.  
   
“Here we are,” Zayn sing-songed as he parked the SUV in their garage. He quickly got out and opened the door by Harry, knowing that the little would panic if Louis got out first. Zayn unbuckled Harry and helped him climb out of the car with Louis close behind him. “Let’s show you around your new house, yeah?” Zayn asked, keeping his tone excited.  
   
“Do you want to walk or do you want me to carry you?” Zayn asked and Harry responded by holding his arms up. Zayn easily hefted the boy onto his hip and followed Louis into the house. The entrance in the garage led into the kitchen.  
   
“Here’s where we are going to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and any snacks. Look, we even got you your own special high chair.” Zayn explained, motioning to the custom high chair that was sitting by the island.  
   
The daddies walked out of the kitchen and through the dining room and paused in their living room to let Harry look around. Their next stop was upstairs, Louis led the way but once he reached the first step of the wooden staircase he stopped and turned around. He took one of Harry’s hands in his own.  
   
“Harry, I want you to look at me and show me what a good listener you are, okay.” He encouraged softly, and once Harry met his eye line he continued. “The stairs can be slippery so we don't want you going up and down by yourself. You might slip. So if you ever want to go upstairs or downstairs just tell us and we will help you. Do you understand?”  
   
Harry nodded quickly. The adoption center had had similar rules about stairs. Plus, going up and down stairs all alone scared Harry so following this rules would be easy.  
   
Zayn and Louis both cooed at the little and praised him for being a good listener, causing Harry to blush and shyly hide his face in Zayn’s neck as he was carried upstairs.  
   
Louis opened a door but did not step inside, he simply stood so that Harry could look in and see the large, king sized bed with its matching dark wood furniture.  
   
“This is Daddy and Papa’s room.” He explained before turning and ushering his husband to turn around. Harry giggled at Louis’ fake urgency. Louis put his hands on Zayn’s shoulders and steered him to a doorway that, instead of a door, had a baby gate blocking their way into the room. Louis easily slid the lock mechanism and swung the gate open.  
   
Zayn set Harry down and waited for him to follow Louis into the playroom. Harry looked around the room, in awe of all the toys. There were trucks, dolls with a dollhouse, a craft table, a chest full of dress-up clothes and accessories, and even a castle like the one he used to play with!  
   
“A castle!” Harry exclaimed, too caught up in his excitement to form a full sentence.  
   
“That’s right! The castle and all the other toys are all yours!” Louis took Harry’s hand to guide him back into the hallway. “You also have a bathroom that’s just for you,” Louis said as they walked down the hall. “And your nursery!” He opened the next door on their right and brought the boy into a spacious nursery, fully decorated with everything a little could need. Harry looked all around. He couldn’t believe that, on top of everything else the two daddies had shown him, this was really happening.  
   
Before the adoption center, Harry had never really had a nice place to sleep. And the adoption center did provide excellent cribs, cots, and beds for all the littles in their care, but the fact that Harry now had such a nice nursery that was special, just for him simply blew him away. The walls were a warmer shade of taupe with decorations colored dark teal and olive all over.  
   
Harry was motionless as his eyes were drawn to the crib sitting against the far wall, underneath a large white H. It was big, made of white wood, with the mattress resting low to the ground and the bars reaching high to ensure safety, along with a plush, green padding around the lower half of the bars. Harry could not see inside of the crib from where he was standing, but he hoped there were lots of blankets and pillows to be found. Soon, Harry finally shifted his focus to a changing table. It matched the crib perfectly, and so did the glider, and a large bookshelf packed full of children’s stories.  
   
After another minute of letting Harry take in his new room, Zayn spoke up. “Do you like it?”  
   
Harry turned to face the daddies, his new daddies, and nodded as quickly as he could. He reached his arms up again and Zayn happily lifted Harry into his arms.  
   
“Harry’s” The boy murmured.  
   
“Mhm,” Louis said, rubbing a strong hand up and down his baby’s back. “And I think it’s time for Harry’s first change in his new nursery.” He spoke, more to Zayn than to Harry, making sure to narrate all that they did and keep it in a positive light for Harry’s sake.  
   
Like Perrie had explained to them before they got to have their one-on-one session with Harry, the boy was still ever so hesitant about his status as a little. But his new daddies were so nice and so excited to bring him home, the tense feeling in his tummy steadily went away the longer he spent laying on the soft green pad of his changing table. Before he knew it, he was all clean and being re-diapered and dressed in a white pair of footie pajamas with small red polka dots all over. Louis picked him up and carried him over to the cushioned glider. The daddy cradled his baby, rocking slowly.  
   
“Now, how’s about a nice nap before dinner time?” Louis lulled. “You’ve had such a busy day.” Harry had no trouble letting his eyelids drop as he listened to the man continued to speak softly. He was out like a light before he was even placed in his new crib.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is just the beginning! I have no real plan for this story, just a bunch of drabbles cobbled together after this set up is as far as I've thought anything through. Hope you've liked it so far and stick around for more!


	3. Chapter 3

Harry woke up feeling confused. There was a pacifier in his mouth he didn’t recall having, and he wasn’t in his usual crib at the adoption center. Still groggy from his nap, he sat up and slowly looked around, expecting to see more cribs full of other littles. Instead, he was met with a decorated nursery and he nodded to himself as he continued to wake up and remembered all that had happened to him lately. 

He raised one of his hands up to his face and rubbed at his eyes. He let out little noises from behind his pacifier as he dug the heel of his hand into his eyes and as he stretched his other arm out. As he let his arms drop down to his sides, the door was opened and his daddy, Louis, was walking over to the crib with a bright smile on his face. 

“Hey there, sweet thing. Did you have a nice nap?” Louis rested his arms on the top rail of the crib, looking down at his baby. 

Not totally awake yet, Harry nodded. He watched as Louis lowered the side bars of the crib and reached under his arms to pick him up. 

“Do you need a change?” The daddy asked, even though his hand moved to check Harry’s diaper as he was lifted up. Harry just shook his head. Louis carried him out of the nursery and down the stairs, heading toward the kitchen. 

“I hope somebody is hungry.” Harry heard his papa call out from where he stood at the stove, stirring a pot of something. 

Harry smiled at both of them as Louis set him in his high chair. “Is it almost ready, babe?” Louis asked his husband, though his attention was still on Harry. The daddy had grabbed a small stuffed giraffe that doubled as a rattle and shook it in front of Harry, getting a giggle from the little. 

“It is indeed,” Zayn answered. “Bring me the plates?” 

Louis handed the toy to Harry and turned to grab two regular plates and one segmented little’s plate from the cupboard. Harry watched as Daddy went to stand shoulder to shoulder with Papa overlooking the stove. 

“Spaghetti?” Harry heard his daddy ask. “I thought you were finally gonna cook your mom’s chicken tikka masala tonight?” 

Zayn began to scoop servings of the spaghetti onto the plates. “That was the plan, but we didn’t have everything I needed for it. We should go grocery shopping tomorrow along with everything else.” 

“Sounds like a plan.” Louis quickly kissed Zayn’s cheek and grabbed Harry’s plate as well as his own. When he turned around he found Harry absent-mindedly chewing on one of the legs of the stuffed giraffe. The little had lost interest in whatever his daddies were talking about. 

“Uh oh, Zayn! It looks like your spaghetti took too long, now Harry is eating his giraffe!” Louis teased. 

Harry pulled the toy out of his mouth, blushing. He didn't want Papa to think he was taking too long, he just liked how it felt to chew on soft things. 

“Well, I hope Harry isn’t full after nibbling on his giraffe. Because I have a lot of yummy spaghetti ready just for him!” Zayn carried the segmented little’s plate over to the high chair tray. Harry looked down to find chopped up spaghetti noodles, steamed broccoli and carrots, and a small piece of bread. 

Louis pinned a plain white bib with a cartoon sun around Harry's neck and sat down in front of the high chair. Soon Zayn joined them with drinks. Luckily, Harry’s high chair tray was large enough to fit all three plates as well as the daddies’ wine glasses and Harry’s sippy cup filled with ice water. 

Zayn took turns between feeding Harry bites and eating his own. Harry was happy to eat quietly, but his daddies kept asking him questions. He still wasn't very used to people being so interested in him. And all of their questions were so easy to answer, so he couldn’t complain. 

Harry picked up the warm bread roll and slowly chewed the bite he took, watching as Daddy sent him a wink before scooping a bite of his own pasta and dramatically slurping the longest noodle that hung from his mouth. Harry laughed loudly, and Zayn just shook his head fondly at the two.

After a few more bites Harry reached for his sippy cup and lazily drank what was left. Daddy and Papa were talking about what they were planning to do the next day, but Harry wasn’t really listening. 

“But I think now, _someone_ needs a bath.” That caught Harry’s attention. Before he knew it, Papa was wiping his face with a wet cloth. Harry tried to squirm away but Zayn continued to wipe off all of the spaghetti sauce that had gotten on the boy’s chin and cheeks. 

Once Harry’s face was wiped clean, his bib was removed and Louis cleared the dishes, Zayn unlocked his high chair tray and picked him up. Zayn brought him to the nursery to take his diaper off, which he had used toward the end of dinner. Meanwhile, Louis was in Harry’s bathroom, filling up the tub. 

Zayn finished wiping his little boy clean, and picked him up without re-diapering him to carry him to the bathroom. In the bathroom, Louis was kneeling by the tub. He had filled it halfway with warm water and had a small basket of bath toys on the floor next to him. 

“Zayn, babe, Liam gave me an idea the other day; his sister bought him some bath bombs for Niall. Said that he loved them, so I bought a few last week.” He lifted up a paper shopping bag. 

“Cool.” Zayn grinned and turned his attention to Harry. “Why don't we pick one out. It will make your bath water so pretty and it will smell so nice!” The daddy set Harry down and kneeled with him so he could look inside the bag. 

Harry was nervous about these thing being called bath _bombs_ , but Papa said they made the water look and smell good. So he gave the inside of the bag a look. They weren’t really bombs, they were balls. They were all very colorful. He tentatively reached in and grabbed a purple one. It was chalky but smooth against his fingertips. 

“Do you want to use that one?” Louis asked. Harry hesitated and gently placed the purple bath bomb back into the bag and reached for a blue one and held it out to his daddy as his choice. 

“Put it in the tub, sweetheart.” Louis encouraged.

Harry gave Louis a confused look, but he did just that and watched as the blue ball began to dissolve as soon as it touched the water. The little gasped and looked over at his daddies who smiled and cooed at his reaction. Soon the water was a bright shade of cerulean. Zayn picked Harry up and lowered him into the tub. Harry hummed happily at the warm water relaxing his muscles. 

The fifteen-year-old would have been more than happy to just passively sit in the sweet-smelling bath as his daddies washed his hair and his body, but after a minute of letting his adjust to the water, Louis lifted up the basket of bath toys. 

“Do you want to play while you get clean, baby?” 

Harry picked out a tiny octopus. He pulled it down to the bottom of the tub and let go, watching it pop back up to the surface of the water. He giggled loudly, enjoying his little game so much he barely noticed as Louis scrubbed him clean. Until that is, the daddy began to scrub his neck and behind his ears. Harry whined and tried to squirm away from the loofah. 

“No, no, sweetie. You have to let Daddy finish, just a few more minutes.” Zayn soothed. Harry pouted but was soon placated as his hair was washed. There was a sleepy smile on the boy’s face as all of the shampoo was rinsed out of his curly brown hair.

“Remind me to text Liam and say thanks for the bath bomb idea,” Louis mentioned to Zayn. Harry had heard the name mentioned a few times earlier in the day and right before his bath started, and his curiosity had grown too big to not ask. 

“Wh-who’s Liam?” He looked up at his daddies with wide eyes. 

“He is one of Daddy and Papa’s very good friends,” Louis explained. “He is a daddy too. He has a little boy named Niall. If you want, we can go over to their house sometime next week. I think you and Niall would be great friends.” 

Harry only nodded, not having strong feelings one way or the other.

When Zayn and Louis deemed their little totally clean they helped him put away the handful of toys he had played with and Zayn gingerly lifted him out of the water. Harry was pliant as he was wrapped in a fluffy towel and moved him to the sink to help him brush his teeth. Carrying Harry to his nursery, Louis hummed a happy tune as he dressed the baby in a diaper and onesie. 

“Alright now, sweet boy.” Louis began to narrate as Zayn exited the nursery. “Why don’t you and I pick out a story to read while Papa go warms up a bottle just for you.” He carried Harry over to look at the bookshelf. 

Harry just pointed to a book, he wasn’t even sure which one, there were so many different storybooks. Louis smiled and pulled _Where the Wild Things Are_ off of the shelf. 

Louis sat down on the glider and got Harry in a comfortable cradled position, a minute later Zayn entered the room with a baby bottle. 

Zayn smiled warmly looking at his husband holding their son. He sat down on the glider and swapped the bottle with the book in Louis’ hands. Louis brought the bottle to Harry’s lips and the little began to drink the warm milk as his eyes drifted to his Papa. Zayn had begun reading the storybook, emphasizing the right words and uses silly voices. Harry did his best to stay awake until the end of the story, and it was proving to be difficult. He felt so relaxed and happy with his new home and family. 

;;

Zayn and Louis knew it was wishful thinking to hope that their little boy would sleep all the way through the night. His headspace was very young, after all. So when they woke up around three in the morning because of crying coming from the baby monitor, they both moved to get up.

“Don’t worry, Lou. I’ll get him. Get some more sleep.” Zayn urged. 

“No, no, I want to help,” Louis argued, moving to follow Zayn, his eyes drooping. 

“Babe, no.” Zayn put his hands on Louis’ shoulder to ease him back to bed. He kissed Louis’ forehead. “You can cover the next time.”

Louis half nodded and fell back onto the bed as Zayn left the room. 

Harry was still crying when Zayn entered the nursery. He was lying on his back, his pacifier lost somewhere in his blankets. 

“Come here, darling,” He cooed as he lowered the crib bars and picked up his baby. It was clear to Zayn immediately that Harry had used his diaper in his sleep and that was what woke him up and the discomfort caused his tears. Zayn gently rocked the boy n his arms.

Once Harry’s tears subsided, Zayn carried him over to the changing table. The papa hummed softly to help keep Harry calm as he wiped his privates and in between his legs. 

“There we go, sweet pea.” Zayn murmured once he redid the snaps on Harry's onesie and picked him up off the changing table. He walked around the nursery, bouncing Harry on his hips until Harry was half asleep. 

The man found another pacifier and popped it in the little's mouth before laying him back down in his crib. After he kissed his son’s forehead and reset the crib bars he left the nursery to go lie back down in his own bed with Louis. 

Hours later, they were awake on their own and waiting to hear the sounds of a little waking up over the monitor. Zayn was shaving his face and Louis was brushing his teeth when the soft sounds of Harry humming to himself as he woke up. Since Harry wasn’t crying, they finished up and got dressed before going to the nursery. 

Harry was sitting up in his crib, looking down at all of his plush blankets and rubbing the soft fabric between his fingers. He looked up when the door opened and his daddies walked in. Louis and Zayn both cooed at the smile that greeted them. 

They went through what they had planned to be the everyday routine for their little. Zayn picked him up and carried him over to the changing table. Zayn stood by Harry’s head, entertaining the boy while Louis changed his diaper.  They dressed him in a plain blue onesie with jean shorts made specifically for littles. Much like clothing made for infants they were made out of super-soft cotton and had an elastic waistband. Louis tickled Harry's feet before slipping on blue ankle socks with little stars all over them.

The little boy was still giggling as he was carried down the stairs and into the kitchen. He was placed in his high chair with a sippy cup of milk. Soon, he was served a bowl of oatmeal with sliced bananas and strawberries on top. 

While Zayn finished preparing his and Louis’ breakfast, Louis sat in front of Harry’s high chair and fed the little his oatmeal. Harry hummed happily with just about each sweet bite he got. 

Soon Zayn placed two glasses on the high chair tray and went back to the counter, returning with two plates of eggs, sausage, toast, and fruit. Harry watched them closely as Louis leaned over and kissed his husband before turning back to scoop up another bite of oatmeal for his baby. 

“So what are we doing after lunch today, Papa?” Louis asked Zayn, even though he knew full well what their plans were. 

“Today, we are going to take Harry shopping!” Zayn said with an exciting tone and an expression to match. “And he’ll get to pick out some new clothes and toys.”

“Doesn’t that sound like fun?” Louis asked, looking at Harry, waiting patiently for the shy nod the little gave in response. 

After breakfast, Zayn took Harry to the playroom. Harry was most excited to play with his brand new castle. Louis was quick to join them, ready to play any game Harry wanted.

Soon, Harry’s tummy began to growl and the men brought him downstairs for an easy lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches with vegetables and ranch dressing. 

While Harry was eating, Zayn went to pack the diaper bag.

Lunch came to an end and Louis carried Harry to the front room to put on his shoes. It took some maneuvering to slide the white converse onto Harry’s feet since the little kept squirming away from Louis. 

“Are you giving Daddy trouble?” Zayn asked, holding in his laughter as he watched Louis struggle with his task. Louis just smirked at Zayn’s light teasing but when he turned back to Harry, the little looked frightened. His green eyes were wide and he just stared at the caregivers, frozen. 

“Harry? What’s the matter, baby?” 

As soon as the question was out of Louis’ mouth, Harry began stuttering an apology. He rambled out, “S-sorry! Didn’-didn’t mean to! S-s-s-” But his words got caught in his throat as tears came to his eyes. 

Zayn and Louis looked at each, both feeling confused and slightly panicked. Zayn was the first to react. He stooped down next to Harry and pulled the boy onto his lap. Louis was quick to move so that he was next to the two, placing a comforting hand on Harry’s shoulder. 

“What are you sorry for, love?” Zayn asked, his voice soft and hushed as he gently rocked his baby back and forth. “You did nothing wrong,” 

Harry shook his head at his papa’s words. “I-I‘M-m-m ‘m tr-trouble. Bad! Bad boy!” 

Zayn felt like his heart had plummeted down to his stomach at the boy’s words. He couldn’t help the guilt he felt as he saw how drastic Harry’s reaction was to misunderstanding something he had said. “You’re not trouble, Harry. You are not a bad boy at all.” 

“You did nothing wrong,” Louis repeated, trying to get Harry to look him in the eye. “Papa just meant you were playing. You were just being silly with Daddy. You weren’t being naughty.” 

Harry sniffled and gulped, his breath was still coming out in short hiccups as he tried to calm down. He wanted to believe what the men were saying. But for so long, he had always been told that he _was_ nothing but trouble. To hear the opposite was still very new. He sat and thought about what they were telling him now, relaxing his breathing as Zayn continued to rock him and Louis rubbed his arm. 

He finally looked up, glancing between both Daddy and Papa’s eyes. “Not a bad boy?”

“Not at all,” Louis said, a smile on his face. “You are our perfect little boy!” 

“That’s right! So why don’t we let Daddy put on your shoes? And we can get everything ready to go have a super fun shopping day.” Zayn added, moving his hands to tickle Harry’s sides, bringing an immediate smile to the little’s features before the three all got up. 

After getting Harry into his sneakers and double checking the diaper bag, the family was ready to go. Louis strapped Harry into his car seat in the SUV and gave him a pacifier with a cartoon peach on it to keep him calm since Louis would be sitting in the front seat, unlike the last time Harry rode in the car. The little furrowed his eyebrows as he watched his daddy close the door and walk to his seat in the front of the car. He let out a whine but Louis was quick to turn around after securing his own seat belt. 

“Daddy’s right here, baby.” 

Harry whimpered and reached his hands out to his daddy. Louis grabbed the little’s hand. Zayn climbed into the driver’s seat, handing the diaper bag over to Louis as he did. 

The family’s first destination was a little specialty store. Their main goal was to get outfits and toys that Harry picks out himself. When Zayn and Louis had been granted their one on one meeting with Harry, they began to design the nursery and playroom for him. And after, when their adoption process began, they ordered the furniture and some basic little clothes and toys similar to the ones they already knew Harry enjoyed playing with. Now that Harry was home with them, they wanted to have him pick out the rest. The parts that would make the home his just as much as it was theirs. 

The little specialty store, Bundles Of Joy, was the size of a warehouse. It had sections for indoor and outdoor furniture, playhouses and playgrounds, decorations, clothing, accessories, and, of course, toys. Inside the store, Louis carried Harry on his hip while Zayn pushed a smaller shopping cart. The men headed for the clothing section. 

Harry looked around in wonder, but he held on tightly to his daddy. 

“See anything you like, baby?” Louis cooed, adding a bit of bounce to his step. Harry hesitantly reached out to touch a pair of shorts. They were soft and had a tropical fruit print. 

“How about Daddy sets you down? You can lead us around and pick out all the outfits you like best.” Louis suggested, he had no problem that Harry was not a very verbal baby, especially in new environments, but he also knew that waiting for Harry to ask to move from rack to rack would take too long. Harry looked at Louis worryingly, not excited about being put down. 

“I promise; I will hold your hand the whole time,” Louis added and this seemed to win Harry over as he whispered. “Okay,” in his sweet, light voice.

Louis set Harry on his feet and grabbed the boy’s hand. He gave it a light squeeze and he kissed Harry’s forehead and Harry’s smile returned to his face. He squeezed Louis’ hand back. It was even lighter than what Louis had done, but he reacted dramatically. “Wow! Zayn we’ll have to be careful. We have got one strong little boy!” 

Harry giggled, taking his daddy completely seriously. He squeezed Daddy’s hand again and got another exaggerated reaction. He laughed so hard his pacifier fell out of his mouth, but he didn't notice. 

“Maybe we don’t even need our cart, Louis. I bet Harry’s so strong he could carry whatever he wants to buy.” Zayn joked, leaning down to grab the pacifier so that Harry wouldn’t try to put it back in. 

Harry giggled even more. “No!” He said, drawing it out with his laughter. 

“Don’t you worry, darling, I won’t let Papa leave you to carry all the clothes.” Louis leaned into stage whisper in Harry’s ear. “I think he just doesn’t want to push his shopping cart all day.” 

Zayn gasped, playing along. 

Harry didn't listen to his papa’s response, something had caught his eye. He wandered toward it. Louis was quick to follow, not wanting Harry’s hand to slip out of his. Harry was staring at a light grey onesie with a crown on it. 

“Do you like that one?” 

Harry nodded. “Can I get it?” He asked quietly, almost as if he was afraid the answer would be no. 

“Of course!” Zayn answered and grabbed one in Harry’s size

Harry smiled so big as he continued to walk around the store with his daddies.

Soon the shopping cart was full of all sorts of outfits and accessories for Harry. The little was very happy with the new sippy cups and pacifiers he picked out. 

Louis could tell his little was getting uncomfortable walking around, and he knew it was because Harry had wet his diaper. Louis had been hopeful that he would ask for a diaper change, but Harry still hadn't informed either of his daddies. 

At this point, Louis decided to step in so that a rash could be avoided. 

“Okay, before we go to the toy section, we are going to go to the bathroom super quick.” Louis narrated, picking Harry up and placing him on his hip. 

“Does someone need a change?” Zayn asked, not raising his voice too loudly, even though he knew no one in this store would judge. 

Harry whined and hid his face in Louis’ neck. Louis bounced him, shushing the boy gently. “That’s right.” He answered his husband, hoping his casual tone would help Harry realize he didn't need to be embarrassed. 

The daddies took Harry to the bathroom and straight into the special stalls specifically for changing littles. Not every public bathroom had their changing stations in stalls but any area or store popular with little-caretaker families did. 

Once Harry was in a dry diaper, and everyone’s hands were washed, Louis carried him out of the bathroom. Louis asked him if he still wanted to walk around, but the boy shook his head and kept his arms wrapped around his daddy’s neck. 

Zayn and Louis had a silent conversation about how much longer they planned to be in the store and they headed straight to the toys. 

Harry seemed disinterested with most of the toys he saw on the aisle. He still wasn't used to the idea of his daddies being so willing to buy him whatever he wanted. He was happy with his new playroom and all the toys already in it. He rested his head on his daddy’s shoulder and glanced at the shelves. 

Zayn and Louis were worried Harry was getting over tired too early into the day. Until his head perked up as Louis carried him past the stuffed animals. 

Harry batted at Daddy’s arm with the palm of his hand, thinking he needed to catch the man’s attention. Louis looked at his baby expectantly, hoping Harry would verbalize what caught his attention. Instead, the boy pointed at a shelf about as high off the ground as Zayn’s ribcage. 

“What do you see, sweetheart?” Louis prompted, moving closer so that Harry could reach the toys. “Go ahead, pick out your favorite.” He noticed Harry seemed to not realize he was allowed to grab the toys off of the shelf on his own. 

He reaches for a stuffed puppy. It was a foot long, with golden yellow fur, floppy ears, and big, brown eyes. Harry grinned and hugged the puppy close to himself. “Harry’s,” The little mumbled, mostly to himself, but the daddies still heard him and couldn't help but to coo at him. 

Happy with his selections, Zayn and Louis brought their cart to the front of the store to pay for everything. 

Once in the car, Zayn dug a tupperware full of cheerios and a sippy cup of apple juice out of the diaper bag for Harry to snack on. 

Harry grabbed the sippy cup and drank slowly, keeping his stuffed puppy tucked under his arm. His eyes began to droop as they drove away from Bundles Of Joy. After a few minutes, Harry was asleep in his car seat, clutching his toy close to his chest.

Louis turned to gather the sippy cup and cheerios, his fond smile glowing as he looked at his little’s peaceful expression. He slid a pacifier into Harry’s mouth and turned back to Zayn. 

“Maybe, let’s wait until tomorrow to get groceries?” He suggested. “Let’s get this baby home for a proper nap.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so glad i got this up! 
> 
> coming up next: their trip to the grocery store, niall and liam make an apperance, and maybe more if you have any suggestions!


	4. Chapter 4

Louis carried Harry into the grocery store, but instead of a regular shopping cart, Zayn brought over a special cart with a plastic bench for littles. Instead of lowering a little into the seat like one would with an infant or toddler in a traditional cart, these were engineered more like a toy car that children can drive. Louis opened the small plastic door, helped Harry slide onto the seat, and buckled the strap around him.

With a pink pacifier bobbing between his lips, Harry lazily kicked his feet back and forth while his daddies picked out groceries and placed them in the cart. Today he was wearing a grey t-shirt under overalls that had bright red, heart-shaped patches on the knees and red vans on his feet. His vans matched the same ones his daddy was wearing. Harry had been very excited when Daddy showed him that they would be wearing the same sneakers.  

Harry did not pay much attention to the food Zayn and Louis were picking out, instead he spent his time looking all around at the other customers in the store. Many of them were looking back at him, but, to his surprise, they were smiling. No one was sneering at him like people used to before he met Ed. Some would even wave at him in hopes he would wave back. One teenager made a silly face, smiling when it made the little boy giggle. 

Zayn turned the grocery cart out of one aisle and into the next. “What cereal do you think we should get?” Zayn asked, directing the question toward his little. Harry looked up at the shelves full of colorful boxes with dozens of different cartoon characters on them. He recognized the orangey-yellow box with a bumblebee on it and pointed to it excitedly. 

“You like your cheerios, don’t you?” Louis cooed, ruffling Harry’s hair as Zayn placed the cereal in their cart. The boy hummed behind his pacifier. 

“Daddy, look!” A voice startled Harry. All three looked up to the other end of the aisle where a little was holding his caretaker’s hand and pointing at the family. For a moment, Harry wasn’t certain that the boy actually was a little, but then he saw that he also had a pacifier, it was just hanging from a strap clipped to his shirt. 

“Niall, please don’t point.” The man said. His tone was firm, but he had a smile on his face as he let his little lead him down the aisle to Louis, Zayn, and Harry. 

“Hi Lou! Hi Zee!” The excited boy sang out. “Sorry for pointin’!” 

“It’s okay, Niall,” Louis opened his arm for the boy to give him a hug. “How are you, buddy?”

“Good! So good! Daddy and me are gonna make pigs in blankets for dinner, and-and he said I get to wrap ‘em!” 

Liam smiled and held up his basket with the ingredients and his other groceries. “That’s right. And it looks like you all have had an exciting couple of days.” 

Liam, of course, knew that Louis and Zayn had brought Harry home. He was one of their closest friends. Niall on the other hand… 

“You got a baby?!” Niall all but shouted once he finally registered that Zayn was pushing a cart with a little boy sitting inside. 

“Indoor voice, Ni,” Liam chided, voice firmer than before. 

“That's right,” Zayn replied. He could tell that Harry was feeling nervous about this, the baby’s eyes were wide staring at the little in front of him and he was sucking on his pacifier much faster than earlier. Zayn took the boy’s little hand in his own. “Harry, can you say hello to Niall?” He asked in a calm, quiet voice. 

Harry picked up his other hand and waved at the other little. “Hi,”

“Hi Harry! ‘M Niall. We’re gonna be best friends!” Niall grinned. The three daddies all cooed at Niall’s enthusiasm and the smile on Harry’s face. “Daddy, can Harry come over to my house?” Niall turned to Liam.

“Not today, love. But sometime soon, I promise we can invite Harry and his daddies over for lunch.” 

“Pinky promise,” Niall pointed his little finger at his daddy, trying to look serious and menacing. 

Liam hooked his pinky around his baby’s without hesitation. “I promise. Now, can you say ‘See you soon,’ because it’s almost time for us to go home. And don’t forget to pick out your cereal.” 

“‘Kay!” Niall’s fake-tough demeanor dropped immediately, and he moved over to hug Louis and Zayn. He tried to hug Harry but it was tough since Harry was still in the cart. Once he grabbed a box of his favorite sugary cereal, he waved to the family, repeating the ‘See you soon!’ Liam suggested he say. 

Harry matched Niall’s wave, much to Louis and Zayn’s delight. 

“Alright, now we need to head to the produce department.” Zayn narrated, moving the cart out of the cereal aisle.

Soon, the men were almost all the way through their grocery list. “What’s left?” Louis asked. 

“The chicken, and I’m thinking about getting some sausage.” 

Louis’ response is held back when he feels Harry tug on his shirt sleeve. “Yes? What is it, sweet pea?” 

Harry just tugged again, not wanting to speak very loudly. Once Daddy was finally leaning in close enough, the baby whispered. “I went potty,” 

“Okay, baby. Zayn, how about you take the cart and get those last few things, and I will get this boy in a clean diaper.” Louis was already leaning down to grab the diaper bag from the cart’s undercarriage. He unbuckled Harry and helped the little slide out of the seat. 

“Daddy, I want Honey.” Harry said around his pacifier as Louis grabbed his hand. Honey was his yellow stuffed puppy from Bundles Of Joy.

“Harry, we left Honey in the car, remember? So that he wouldn’t get lost in the store.” Louis explained patiently. 

The daddy moved to picked his little up, but Harry backed away, shaking his head. “Need Honey, Daddy,” Harry mumbled. 

“I don’t have Honey. You can have him once we are done, though. Once your diaper is changed, we will go right to the car and get Honey.” 

“No,” Harry whined and his eyes teared up. 

“Baby, Papa is gonna be waiting for us if we don’t go to the bathroom soon.” Louis explained, his tone still very patient. 

“No, no, no, no,” Harry continued to protest, his pacifier falling out of his mouth. 

Louis figured he would take the tough way out, once he picked the dirty paci off of the floor and put it in the diaper bag he reached just under Harry’s armpits to lift him up. But Harry let out a shrill whine and sank down, wriggling away from Louis’ grip. Harry fell so that he was sitting on the floor, kicking his feet out, tears starting to fall from his eyes. 

“W-w-wan’ H-h-h-ho-oney!”

Louis sighed, trying to hide his frustration. He could tell people were staring. He had grown up with young siblings, he knew how nosy people could be when a kid throws a fit in a public place. 

He crouched down and placed his hand under Harry's chin. “Look at Daddy, Harry. Show me what a good listener you are.” 

Harry slowly met his daddy’s eye line, still sniffling and letting out a whimper here and there. 

“Such a good little boy,” Louis comforted. “Now, you and I are gonna go to the bathroom and change that dirty diaper.” Louis spoke, he kept his voice down because he did not want Harry to feel embarrassed, but he also made sure he sounded authoritative. “And as soon as we are done, I am gonna take you straight to the car and we can tell Honey what a brave boy you’ve been.” 

This placated Harry, or at least got him to calm down as he considered it. Either way, Louis used this break in Harry’s tantrum to pick the boy up off the floor and immediately start walking toward the grocery store’s bathroom. 

Louis felt a felt tears hit his shoulder and dampened the fabric of his shirt, but he didn't want to draw attention to Harry’s dismay. He simply rubbed his little's back and shushed him gently. 

Harry’s crying picked up in the changing stall. He did not like this hard plastic changing table at all. He missed Papa and he wished he had Honey in his arms to keep him company while Daddy worked on taking off his overalls and his soiled diaper. 

Louis was sympathetic to his baby’s situation, so he began to hum in order to distract Harry. Once Harry had been cleaned off, powdered, and wrapped in a new diaper. Louis helped him off of the changing table and pulled his overalls back up. 

“Thank you for being so brave for Daddy,” Louis kissed Harry’s forehead. “Now let’s go tell Honey all about it,” 

Harry nodded as quickly as he could, reaching up for Daddy to carry him. Louis hefted him onto his hip and pulled a spare pacifier out of the diaper bag hanging from his opposite shoulder. “Maybe we should get you a paci clip like the one Niall had, would you want that?” 

“Like Niall,” Harry answered, nodding his head. He was smiling behind his pacifier. He was in a much better mood now that his diaper change was over and he was going to be getting his stuffed friend back in his arms very soon. 

“I’m so glad that you like Niall.” Louis cooed. He carried Harry back through the store, spotting Zayn in line for one of the registers. Louis walked over to him, leaning in to quietly explain that he was taking Harry to the car and why. “Let’s give Papa a kiss before we leave.” Louis popped his hip closer to Zayn. 

Harry leaned forward pressing his face against Zayn’s waiting cheek. The daddies chuckled at their baby keeping his pacifier in for the kiss. 

“B’bye Papa, me and Daddy are going to see my Honey!” 

Zayn grinned at Harry. “Well tell Honey I will see him in a bit, okay.” Zayn played along. 

After getting his groceries rung up and paid for, Zayn goes to his SUV and found his husband scrolling through his smartphone and his son sleeping in his car seat, Honey clutched tightly to his chest. 

;;

A few weeks of living with Zayn and Louis had Harry almost totally out of the shell he had built for himself from years of moving from foster home to foster home. 

The little loved playing with his daddies and all his toys. Lately, they had been watching Disney movies together. Harry did not recognize any of the dvds that were on the shelf in his playroom, so Louis and Zayn took it upon themselves to introduce him. 

What Harry liked best about the movies was the music. He loved it when Daddy and Papa sang along to the songs, or played them in the car for him. 

Today they were finally going over to Liam and Niall’s to spend the day. Harry was in his nursery, wearing only his diaper. He and his papa were dancing to Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid on Zayn’s phone while they waited for Louis to return from the laundry room with Harry's onesie with Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian on it. Harry had asked to wear it that morning but he had spilt ketchup on it during his lunch. 

Harry started sobbing as soon as Daddy took it off of him to go clean it. It took Zayn ten minutes to explain to the baby that he could have it back in a little bit. He had refused to let his papa put anything else on him in its place. Since it was nearing when they needed to leave, Zayn just took Harry to the nursery to check his diaper and let him play until his onesie was clean. 

Under the Sea came to an end and I Just Can't Wait to Be King automatically played next, Zayn had quickly made a Disney playlist just for Harry once the little started showing his love for the songs the characters sing. 

“No, no, Papa! Kiss the Girl!” Harry demanded, a grin on his face. “Sha-la-la-la!” 

Zayn laughed and picked up his phone to seek out the song. “You’re just my little fishie today, aren’t you?” He teased. 

“Like Flounder!” Harry giggles. 

What’s like Flounder?” Louis asked as he entered the room, holding a onesie in his hands. 

“I was telling Harry how he’s been a little fish today with all the Little Mermaid stuff.” Zayn explained. 

“Yeah, ‘m like Flounder. But it’s just pretend, Daddy. I’m not really a fishie.” Harry said to Louis, his tone very serious, like he was concerned the man might actually believe Zayn’s little joke. 

“Oh okay good.” Louis sighed dramatically, loving to play along with his little. “I would be so sad if my baby boy turned into a fishie. Now let’s get my baby dressed so we can all swim on over to meet Liam and Niall.” Louis picked Harry up and laid him on the changing table to ease the process of sliding his onesie on, followed by the soft black shorts Zayn picked out. 

“Dunno how to swim, though,” Harry mumbled. 

“Daddy was only joking, sweet pea.” Zayn fought back his laughter, not wanting to unintentionally belittle Harry. “We are going to drive there.”

Harry nodded, letting his daddy move him around to get him dressed. 

“Do you want to bring Honey?” Louis asked, setting the boy on his feet. 

“Yeah,” Harry turned around and waddled over to his crib and grabbed his favorite toy. “And a paci, please?” 

“Of course you can have a paci,” Zayn answered, picking one up off of the dresser and popping it in Harry’s mouth. 

Louis took Harry’s hand in his and led him down the stairs and to the car. The car ride to the Payne house was not a very long one, but to a little like Harry, it took forever. It had almost ten minutes and Harry began to kick his feet back and forth in boredom, unaware that his toes were knocking against the passenger’s seat.

“Baby, please don’t kick Papa’s chair. We are almost there, don’t worry.” Zayn looked at Harry using the mirror in his sun visor. 

Harry blushed, lifting Honey to hide his mouth. “Sorry, sorry, sorry Papa! Didn’ mean to! Won’ kick again!” The boy rambled, his words muffled from his pacifier and his stuffed animal. 

“It’s okay. Papa isn’t mad.” The man soothed. 

Minutes later and Louis parked in Liam’s driveway. 

Sensing that Harry was still feeling sheepish over kicking his seat, Zayn picked the little up, giving him a kiss on the cheek and rubbing his back for reassurance as he carried him to the front door. 

Liam opened the front door soon after Louis rang the doorbell. Niall was behind him, hopping up and down, clearly over the moon for today. 

“Harry’s here! Harry hi!” The excited little sang out, stepping in front of his daddy now that Louis and Zayn were inside the house. Niall knew he wasn’t allowed to open the front door or go outside by himself, but now the front door closed so he wasn’t worried about breaking a rule. He stood on his tiptoes and hugged Harry, and Zayn but only because Zayn still had Harry on his hip. 

“Harry, y’wanna play?” 

Harry nodded and wriggled in his papa’s arms as an indicator that he wanted to walk. Harry toddled over to Niall still hugging Honey to his chest, letting go with one hand to grab Niall’s. 

“We’re gonna play in my room, okay Daddy?” Niall said sweetly. 

“You sure you don't want to go downstairs?” Liam asked. 

Liam and Niall’s home was a single story building with a basement. The ground floor held Liam’s bedroom, Niall’ nursery, kitchen bathrooms, dining room, and living room. The basement had their laundry room and Liam’s exercise equipment, but most of the space had been renovated to act as Niall's playroom. 

“No thank you, Daddy. I gotta show Harry my brand new toys!” The boy didn't waste any time after explaining this before he was leading/dragging Harry down the hall. The three caregivers all watched fondly before making their way to the kitchen. 

Harry really liked Niall’s nursery. The walls were a bright blue, Harry’s favorite shade actually, with a fluffy brown carpet covered in toys. There was a changing table that closely resembled the one in Harry’s own nursery, but without a crib. This confused Harry, he had grown very used to cribs and thought that all littles slept in them. But Niall had a regular bed. His full size mattress was pushed against a wall, it would have looked like any teenager’s bed if it weren’t for the Batman bed sheets and the guard rails.

“No crib?” He asked, tilting his head. 

“Yeah,” Niall answered calmly. “I used to have one, but I didn’t like the bars. Made me feel stuck and I’d get scared. So Daddy got me a big boy bed, but he made me have rails so I don’t fall out when I’m sleepin’.

“But I wanna show you my kitchen!” Niall quickly changed the topic. He moved over a plastic kitchen set, perfectly sized for littles. “Wanna make something?” He looked up at Harry with excited eyes. 

Harry had never made anything in a kitchen before, so he was a little wary even though he knew it was just a toy. He doesn’t know how the tools in his daddies’ kitchen worked. He hugged Honey a little tighter and shrugged. “What do we make?”

“Anything we want,” Niall grinned. “Here, we can let your puppy sit on my bed so he can watch us.” Niall held his hands out to move Honey. Harry was slow to do it but he handed the stuffie over. He knew that his daddies didn’t let him try to cook for real because it wasn’t safe for littles, so he felt like his daddies keeping his favorite thing in the world safe. 

“I like your puppy,” Niall said, giving the toy a sweet pat like he was petting a real dog. “What’s his name?”

“Honey,” Harry smiled, very happy that his friend like Honey. 

“Does Honey ever play rescue like the puppies in Paw Patrol?” Niall asked

Harry’s brow furrowed, he had no idea what Niall was talking about. “Wha’s Paw Patrol?” He spoke around his pacifier. 

“Paw Patrol is my most favorite show _ever_! You don’t watch it?” Niall was dumbfounded. Harry just shook his head. 

“We should watch it!” Niall jumped up and down. “Come on, come on, come on!” Niall grabbed Harry’s hand and pulled him out of the nursery and to the kitchen. That’s where they found their caregivers sitting around the island, chatting and sipping on beer bottles.

“Daddy!” Niall released Harry’s hand and quickly walked over to Liam. “Daddy, guess what!” 

Harry moved over to his daddy and papa, happily accepting the little hugs and cuddles they gave him. 

Liam chuckled, trying to get Niall to stop bouncing on his toes. “What is it, babe?” 

“Daddy, Harry has never seen _Paw Patrol_! Never ever, can you believe that?” Niall half-shouted, scandalized. 

“Inside voice, please.” Liam reminded his little. “Do you want to show Harry all of your Paw Patrol toys? Daddy can run and get them from your playroom.” 

“And, and can we watch some? Pleeease Daddy?” Niall turned around to look at Harry. “We can watch and I can show you my stuffies after you see them on the show.” Harry smiled widely at this.

Liam looked over to Zayn and Louis. “Is that okay with you two?”

The husbands had a silent conversation before turning back to their friend. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be.” Louis answered. 

“Okay, I’ll go set it up on the TV-” Liam started to move toward his living room. 

“Wait! Can we watch on the computer so we can stay in my room? Pretty please?”

Liam rolled his eyes good-naturedly, his little boy really did have him wrapped around his finger. But Liam didn’t mind in the slightest. “Sure thing, sweetheart. You and Harry go back to your nursery and I’ll bring it to you once I get the dvds from the living room.”

“Where’s my Rubble paci, Daddy?” Niall wondered. Liam opened a drawer near the sink and digs around for a moment before spotting a yellow pacifier with the Bulldog that Niall loved so much. 

Niall happily accepts his pacifier and goes with Harry, the boys quickly toddled back down the hall, giggling the whole way. 

Zayn was smirking at Liam. “Has Niall ever heard you say the word ‘No’?” He teased, causing Louis to snicker.

Liam flipped him off once he was positive the babies were out of sight. 

Liam carried his laptop, a lap desk, and two paw patrol dvds to the nursery. He found the two littles sitting in Niall’s bed like he expected, he was endeared to see them both wrapped in Niall’s Batman comforter and holding their stuffed animals. 

He set the lap desk on the foot of the bed and places the laptop on it with a dvd inside, ready to play the episodes automatically so that the littles don’t have to worry about working the computer. Once the Paw Patrol theme song started, he gave Niall a kiss on the head and gently ruffled Harry’s curls before leaving the boys to watch their show. He could hear Niall pointing out each of the puppies to Harry as they appeared. 

;; 

Louis, Zayn, and Liam spent the next hour and a half chatting and catching up, mostly talking about their littles. 

“I’d say it’s almost time for dinner.” Liam said after a checking the time. 

“Sure, what are you planning?” Zayn asked as he stood up. 

“Niall’s really been on a cooking kick, those new toys he wanted Harry to see were all the fake food and tools he uses in his fake kitchen. He has been wanting to help me with just about everything I make. 

“And tonight he wanted to show off a little to Harry,” Liam chuckled in his explanation. “So we are doing make-your-own pizzas.” 

Louis laughed, excited to see how Harry reacted. “Sounds great. Let’s go get the babies.” 

The men entered the nursery quietly, not wanting to startle the boys since they were expecting them to be engrossed in their TV show. Instead they find two babies fast asleep, leaning against one another with the laptop still playing Paw Patrol. 

“Oh good, I was worried he wouldn’t get a nap today,” Zayn whispered. 

Liam moved the laptop and slowing picked Niall up off the bed, letting Zayn and Harry sit by their little to wake him up. 

Liam laid Niall down on his changing table, gently coaxing him awake while getting him out of his wet diaper. 

Niall whined at the cold he felt when his diaper was removed. Liam shushed him and rubbed his tummy to calm him down. “It’s time to wake up, Ni. It’s dinner time!” He cheered softly, mindful that Harry hadn’t fully woken up yet. Niall perked up, really excited to go to the real kitchen. 

Liam went ahead and carried his baby to the kitchen to help him set up the pizza ingredients while Zayn and Louis woke Harry up and changed his diaper. 

Soon, Harry was walking in hand in hand with both of his daddies. “What’s for dinner?” he asked sweetly, voice still thick from sleep. 

“Pizza!” Niall could barely hold in his excitement. “And we get to make ‘em!” 

Harry looked between his daddies, his eyes wide like he wasn’t sure if he really could. 

“Let’s wash your hands, baby.” Zayn suggested, leading Harry over to the kitchen sink. His daddy took his pacifier to keep in the diaper bag they left in the living room. 

“We need aprons!” Niall said suddenly, looking at Liam. Along with his own toy kitchen, Niall had gotten plenty of personalized aprons for him to wear when he played kitchen and when he helped his daddy in the real kitchen. The little scampered over to a cabinet and pulls out as many aprons as he can hold in his arms. 

“Harry gets to pick first,” The boy explained to the adults. Harry looked through all of the options and wound up picking a dark blue apron with little stars, planets, and rocket ships on it. Niall then picked his with a trucks and cars pattern. Liam picked the Superman apron, Louis’ had cherries all over it and he handed one to Zayn with a big cupcake on the chest with the words ‘Sweet Thing’ underneath. Zayn rolled his eyes at his husband before he helped Harry by tying the strings of his apron. 

On the kitchen island there is premade pizza dough, shredded cheese, a bowl of sauce, and toppings like pepperoni, sausage, peppers, bacon, pineapple, ham, and mushrooms. 

Harry stands between both his daddies and watches them as they make their own personal pizzas. He mimics their motions, his hands just shaking slightly so his sauce and cheese are a little more scattered than theirs, but the little is very happy with himself for making something on his own. 

Niall was going through the motions quicker than anyone, personal pizzas were one of his favorite things that his daddy let him make in the grown up kitchen and he knew exactly how he wanted his made. He narrated his ingredient choices to Harry as he did, loving to show off. 

Harry looked at Niall’s pizza with ham and pineapple and then the toppings on the table. He noticed Liam covering his with sausage, Daddy had sausage and ham, and Papa picked the green peppers, mushrooms, and bacon for his. 

“What do I pick?” He looked to his papa. 

“Whatever you want, baby.” Zayn picked up a strip of green pepper and held it close to Harry’s mouth. “Here, try them and see if you want it on your pizza.” Harry took a bite of the green pepper and thought for a second before shaking his head. He tried a couple more of the toppings, deciding he liked how the bacon and pepperoni tasted best. As soon as Harry finished sprinkling the bacon bits onto his pizza, Liam and Louis gathered everyone’s to go into the oven. 

“We’re not allowed to touch the oven,” Niall whispered to Harry.

While the pizzas baked, the caregivers played with their littles in the living room. Niall’s toy trucks were already there ready to be played with. Niall insisted they all keep their aprons on as well. The moment the oven timer began to beep, Niall stood up and tried to tug Liam to a standing position as well. “They’re ready, Daddy! They’re ready!” 

Liam reminded his little to be patient as he stood. “Please put your trucks away while Daddy gets them out of the oven,” 

Niall nodded and got to work gathering his toys. 

Since there was only one high chair, Liam suggested that the boys sit with the daddies at the table. This had Niall even more excited than he already was, but Harry was a little anxious until Louis suggested Harry sit in his lap. 

The pizzas were cooled off and Liam poured juice into sippy cups for the littles and water into glasses for the adults. 

Everyone dug in, both Niall and Harry getting sauce all over their faces. 

“Good thing we kept these aprons on, we’ve got some messy babies.” Liam teased, noticing the sauce and toppings littering Niall’s apron as well. 

Sated and sleepy, it was easy for Louis and Zayn to clean their baby. 

Zayn had the diaper bag slung over his shoulder and Harry standing next to him in the living room.

“I’ll go get Honey, Harry. Why don’t you say goodbye to Niall for the day?” 

Niall quickly crossed the room to wrap his friend in a tight hug. “Bye bye Harry! Love you!” 

Harry blushed and the caregivers all cooed. “Love you Niall!” Harry surprised his daddies, speaking so easily. They were thrilled that he and Niall got along so well.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is unedited bc i was rushing myself to get it posted before i went to work
> 
> but i hope yall like it!


	5. Chapter 5

“Okay Harry, Daddy is gonna kick the ball now. Are you ready?” 

It was a sunny day and Harry had asked his daddies if they could play outside. Louis and Zayn didn't have a playset for Harry in their fairly large backyard, but there were plenty of toys for the little. Including two soccer nets and a ball that was bigger and softer than an ordinary one, perfect for littles to kick around. 

Louis had asked if he wanted to play soccer and he could tell that Harry liked the idea but was hesitant over it, saying he hadn’t played in a very long time. He was worried he wouldn't be good or remember the rules. But Louis was more than happy to offer to teach his baby how to play. So far they had only been kicking the ball back and forth very gently. As they did, Zayn lounged in a lawn chair on the stone tiled patio by their sliding glass door and watched with a fond look on his face. Harry did not notice but every few kicks Louis was taking a step or two away to help further improve Harry’s aim. 

“Yeah!” Harry giggled, keeping his eyes trained on the colorful soccer ball that was resting on the grass in front of his daddy. Louis gave it a kick hard enough so that it would reach Harry, but gentle enough so that it the little would stand a chance of stopping it or kicking it back. For the most part, Harry had just been using his feet to stop the ball and then do his best to kick it back to Daddy, but he wanted to show off. He knew that his daddy really liked soccer and the fifteen year old wanted to impress him. The ball had almost reached him and he pulled his leg back, ready to kick the ball. But, like children, littles had poor motor control, so when Harry swung his foot forward he had misjudged where the ball would be. 

He missed the ball and lost his balance from the momentum of his kick, falling backwards onto his bottom. 

Zayn sat up straighter in his seat, ready to get up but not moving just yet. Louis walked over to Harry to assess if he was hurt or simply startled. But neither caregiver rushed over. They knew that if they ran over to Harry, frantically asking if he was hurt, the poor thing would get overwhelmed and start crying even if he was perfectly fine. So, instead, Louis calmly walked to Harry, who was looking rather disappointed with himself and helped him stand up.  

“That was such a good try, sweet pea.” Louis said, a bright smile shining at his boy. 

“Messed up…” Harry muttered, beginning to sniffle and keeping his eyes trained on the ground. 

“That's okay. Everybody messes up sometimes. It just means you get to try again and get even better.” Louis reached to wipe away the few tears shed from the pain of Harry’s impact. 

With a few more sweet words of encouragement from Louis, Harry was back to happily playing with the soccer ball. Louis was now standing right next to him to help him keep his balance while they kicked the ball into the toy goal. Zayn cheered from his lounge chair every time Harry managed to get the ball to the net. 

“Harry, I’ll bet after today you're an even better player than Daddy is.” Zayn called out. Louis responded with a fake-offended gasp, making Harry laugh loudly. 

“Yeah!” The little cheered for himself, making both daddies elated to see their boy so confident. 

“Well, at least I'm still better than Papa.” Louis countered. 

“You are not.” Zayn teased. 

“Harry, don't you think Daddy is a better player than Papa?” 

Harry looked up at Louis, his eyes wide as he wasn't sure what to say. 

“You can't ask him that, he's only seen you play.” Zayn pointed out. 

“You're right, why don't you get off your butt and we can settle this right here?” 

Before Zayn could say against this idea, Louis turned to Harry again. “Do you want Papa to play with us?” He asked, already knowing what Harry's answer would be. 

“Yeah! Papa, play!” Harry clapped his hands together, his eyes alight and a grin stretching across his face. 

Zayn rolled his eyes at his husband using Harry to stop him from saying no, because there was nothing that could stop Zayn from doing everything in his power to keep Harry that happy. And if that meant he had to play Little Soccer against his husband instead of relaxing in the sun, well then that's what he would do. 

So Zayn got up and joined the other two on the grass. 

The three all began their game, there weren't any real rules, Louis would pass the ball to Harry and Harry would take his time to stop the ball with his foot before kicking it to Zayn. The daddies had nothing but praise for Harry but teased each other as they occasionally passed the ball between themselves before it was sent back toward their little.  

Louis goaded Zayn into trying to kick the ball into the goal. The younger of the two men took the challenge and moved to send the ball toward the net, but he misjudged as his kick sent the ball rolling past the toy goal until it hit his empty lounge chair. 

Louis clicked his tongue, shaking his head. 

“It’s okay, Papa. Daddy said ev’rybody messes up.” Harry said sweetly, repeating Louis’ words of encouragement. 

“Thank you, baby.” Zayn walked over to Harry and kissed the boy's forehead. “I guess Daddy was right, he is better at soccer.” 

“Exactly, Daddy is always rig-!”

“That is not what I said!” Zayn cut Louis off, laughing. 

“I get the ball!” Harry announced, wanting to be helpful, and a little bored with his daddies’ banter. He wanted to keep playing. He toddled toward the patio quickly, almost running if it weren't for his diaper. 

With his pace and infantile motor control, his foot got caught as it moved from the grass onto the paved patio. Before he even had a chance to realize what had happened, the little fell forward, his arms reaching out to brace his fall. 

As soon as they saw him go down, Louis and Zayn moved toward him, crouching down beside him. This fall was a lot harder than his earlier one. They still waited before saying anything, wanting to see Harry's reaction without their worrying influencing his emotions.

The boy rose to his hands and knees so that he could roll over to sit up, Louis did not like the hissing noise Harry made when he put weight on his hands. There were already tears in the baby’s eyes and short, choppy breaths coming from him. Then, he looked at his hands as Louis grabbed one to examine it. 

The skin at the heels on his palms was pink and scratched with blood beginning to ebb out from the scrapes. 

Harry immediately began to sob at the sight of blood, the injuries beginning to sting as the cool breeze blew against them. Louis stood up as quickly as he could, picking Harry up bridal style and cradling him as he silently urged Zayn to open the sliding glass door. In the kitchen, Louis set Harry down so he was sitting on the counter while he and Zayn dug through their cabinets. Harry only cried louder as he was set down, reaching out for whichever daddy was closest to him as they moved about. Zayn returned to stand next to his little, clipping a strap to the boy’s shirt and sliding the attached pacifier into Harry’s mouth before dabbing a cool, wet cloth against the scraped skin on his hands and his knees now that Zayn had a good look to all of the places Harry was hurt. 

Harry whined behind his pacifier. Louis placed a first aid kit on the counter next to him, adding to the quiet reassurances Zayn was saying to the boy. 

“Okay now, sweetheart,” Louis started, pulling a small tube of antibacterial cream out of the kit. “Daddy is going rub this on your hands and knees so that these ouchies don't get dirty. We have to keep them clean so they can get better super fast.”

Harry nodded, holding his hands out to his daddy. Louis smiled sympathetically, he could tell how much Harry wanted his injuries to heal but his heart panged, knowing that the cream was going to sting. 

Zayn wrapped a hand around Harry’s left wrist to help keep his hand still. When Louis began to rub the ointment over Harry’s palms, the boy let out a high-pitched whine. He unsuccessfully pulled against his papa’s grip. 

“Hurts!” He cried, drawing the word out.  

“I know, baby, I know.” Zayn told him, rubbing his thumb gently against his baby’s wrist as Louis finished. They waited a moment for the cream to set before Zayn let go of Harry's left wrist. 

The little caught wind of what was about to happen and he hid his right hand behind his back. 

“Harry, Daddy has to put the cream on your booboos.” Louis explained patiently. “Don't you want them to get better.”

“No!” 

“Harry, you need to listen to Daddy.” Zayn urged. 

“Don' yike it!” Harry whined, his words more slurred than usual by his pacifier from how close to crying he was, but he still let Papa pull his wrist forward for Louis to continue. 

“That's okay. Daddy doesn't like that it hurts you either, but we want to make sure that these don't get dirty. Because if your booboos get dirty they might hurt even worse.” Zayn whispered in Harry's ear. 

Harry worried his pacifier between his teeth, whimpering the entire time Louis worked the ointment over his palm.

“Such a brave boy,” Louis said, moving to start on Harry's right knee. His knees weren't hurt as badly as his palms, but Harry was still very vocal with his displeasure. Zayn wiped away a tear that dropped down his baby’s cheek. 

When Louis began to rub the cream onto Harry's left knee, he must have applied more pressure than the little was anticipating. Harry yelped as the sensitive skin on his knee began to sting even more and his legs jerked out as he tried to squirm away. 

The last thing Louis expected while he treated his baby was a foot kicking him in the crotch. So when it did, he let out a low noise. Doing his best to not say anything, especially anything vulgar, Louis groaned and stepped away. 

This turned Harry's whining into sobbing. He felt so bad seeing his daddy in pain. Especially since he caused it. 

“Daddy!” He wailed, reaching out for Louis. 

Zayn quickly picked Harry up and rocked him back and forth. 

“Didn’ mean to! I sorry!” The little sobbed, letting his pacifier drop and hang by its strap. “S-orry D-Daddy!” 

“It's okay,” Zayn cooed. “Daddy's okay. Don't you worry, baby.” 

“Hurt Daddy!” Harry moaned in response like he was arguing with his papa. 

A few moments later, Louis was back at Zayn’s side. He reached to wipe Harry's cheeks free of tears. 

“Hey there, sweetheart, It’s not your fault.”

Harry shook his head and hid his face in his hands, unknowingly smearing some of the antibacterial cream that hadn't dried yet. 

Zayn gently shifted the little into Louis’ arms. 

When Harry realized who was holding him, he grasped around Louis’ shoulders, holding on as tightly as he could. 

“Harry's sorry, Daddy. Don't be mad, please. So sorry, didn' mean it,” The boy rambled out, stumbling over his words as he continued to cry. 

“Oh Harry, no, Daddy's not mad. Daddy could never be mad at his baby boy. I know you didn't mean to. Those booboos just hurt too much for my brave boy.”

Louis continued to comfort Harry until the little’s tears stopped. “There we go, now let's put some bandages around your booboos so they stay clean, and then we can all cuddle on the couch.” He narrated, gently covering Harry's palms and knees with gauze and carrying him to the living room. 

Zayn set up Lilo and Stitch to play on the TV and found Honey in Harry's nursery. He brought the stuffed dog over to where Louis had Harry sitting on his lap and the boy reached out for his puppy immediately. 

The family snuggled on the couch until Harry’s eyes began to droop. 

“Should I go get his crib ready?” Zayn whispered, looking over Harry’s head at Louis. 

Louis was looking tired himself, he lazily shook his head. “Let him rest here, a nap sounds great.” 

“Your legs are gonna fall asleep.” Zayn said, smiling as he stood. 

“The rest of me is right behind them,” Louis answered, leaning his head back and closing eyes. He slowly rubbed his hand up and down his baby’s stomach, making Harry hum in his sleep. 

Zayn chuckled and bent over to kiss Harry’s forehead before kissing Louis’ cheek and leaving them to nap on the couch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is shorter than i had planned but it kind of stands alone from the next scene that im still working on so i decided to go ahead and post it
> 
> (if you have any suggestions/requests for what you want to see happen in this story dont be afraid to share! <3)


	6. Chapter 6

“Harry, you have to wear your clothes.” Zayn said, looking at his little boy, who was sitting in his playroom in just his diaper.

“No!”

“Baby, you can’t go outside in just your diaper.” Zayn explained, feeling impatient though he did not let that show as he spoke.

“Don’t wanna go outside.” Harry said matter-of-factly.

Today, the daddies had planned to take Harry to the barber. His hair had grown to where it was curling around his ear and almost past his chin, the men both thought he looked precious, and had no intention of making him get rid of his long hair, but knew he needed a quick trim to keep his hair healthy. But telling the baby beforehand had been a mistake. Harry had been playing with his race car track in his playroom and Zayn had decided to let the little know it was almost time to clean up his toys so he could get his hair cut.

As soon as Harry heard the words, he started to panic. The little knew that his caregivers would not take him anywhere undressed so in his fit he took off his t-shirt and athletic shorts, throwing them at Louis. The two adults were confused by this sudden change in mood, but they took it in stride. Zayn stayed to try and calm Harry while Louis left the room to call the barber shop.

Louis returned to the playroom, his phone in his hands. “I called Louise. Explained that we’re gonna be late and she said it’s totally fine. She has a really open day, so we might have to sit in the lobby and wait until she’s finished with the appointments she's taking in Harry's old slot, but she can still take him no problem.”

“Thank god,” Zayn muttered. “Now if we can just get his clothes back on.”

Louis walked over to grab the shirt and shorts Harry had thrown at him earlier. “Let’s get these back on and get ready to go, sweetheart.” He tried to coax his little.

“Don't wanna!” The little whined.

“What do you want to wear then, angel?”

“No clothes!” Harry shouted, throwing a stuffed animal across the room, nowhere near either of his daddies.

“Harry, we do not throw things. That was very rude.” Zayn scolded lightly. The little looked down, clearly sorry even though he was still pouting. 

“Sorry, Papa.” 

“You’re forgiven, babes. Now how about we get you a new outfit for today.”

Harry whined again. “But I don’t wanna.”

“Not even if you get to help pick out what you wear?” Zayn suggested, already moving over and picking Harry up. The boy was so distracted by the offer to pick out his own outfit that he didn't struggle or whine when his papa picked him up and brought him to his nursery.

“Harry gets to pick.” The fifteen year old said as his closet was opened and its light turned on, like he was reminding Zayn. As though Zayn hadn't suggested it only a minute ago.

“That's right,” Zayn set Harry on his feet and let him wander farther into the closet.

Harry took his time, pulling out just about every article of clothing that caught his eye. He was making a mess, but the two men didn't care so long as he was complying.

“This and these!” Harry tugged a pair of red leggings with white polka dots, from his Minnie Mouse pajama set, off of a hanger along with a bright blue shirt with cartoon dinosaurs all over.

“Sure thing, babe.” Zayn said, stopping himself from laughing at Harry’s cute, albeit mismatched choices. He would have to remind himself to get a picture. 

Zayn picked Harry back up and brought him over to the changing table to get him into a new diaper before helping him put on his clothes.

“Well, look how stylish!” Louis said, a grin on his face as he saw the silly outfit on the little. Harry beamed at his daddies. “Time to pick some shoes.” Louis announced, grabbing a pair of socks as he exited the room to lead the other two downstairs.

Zayn held Harry's hand to help him down the stairs and ushered the boy to where Louis was waiting.

Harry sat down in front of Daddy, insisting he could tug his socks on without help. Louis didn't want to wait, since they were already plenty late to the appointment, but he couldn't bring himself to fight Harry on this.

Soon, the family is in the car and Harry is distracted by a Jungle Book cd being put into the stereo. But the closer they got to their destination, the more restless the little became as he remembered why they were in the car.

When Louis opened the car door next to Harry's seat, he found his little boy looking at him with big, pleading eyes and a very defined pout.

“Now, now, I promise there is no reason to be afraid of a haircut.” Louis cooed, keeping his hands behind his back. “But, since it's something you don’t like, in a place that’s brand new, I think it's okay if you have a friend who helps you stay calm. What do you say?”

Harry tilted his head, unsure what friend his daddy was referring to. Was Niall going to be inside? Harry hoped so, Niall was so much fun.

Louis moved his arms, pulling out what he was hiding behind his back. It wasn’t Niall, but Harry didn’t mind because Louis revealed a fluffy golden stuffed animal for Harry to grab.

“Honey!” Harry squealed and held his hands out, squirming to get his toy. Louis happily gave the puppy to the boy and used this distraction of Harry cuddling Honey in his arms to unbuckle him and carry him into the barber shop.

The barber shop was set up primarily for adult clients, but there were stylists who catered to littles as well. Their stations had special capes with cartoon patterns and little toys used to grab a little’s attention and keep them keep calm. There were roughly ten other people in the barber shop, only four of them were patrons and one of the customers was a little. The other three were grown men all chatting with the stylists.

Louise was finishing up for the little, a boy getting his bright red hair trimmed. The boy’s caregiver, a woman older than Zayn and Louis, stood next to the chair and held her little's hand to whole time. Harry was tense in Louis’ arms, but he liked the Power Rangers cape that the little boy had over him.

“There you go Robbie, all the done!” The stylist cheered, reaching into a drawer and pulling out a lollipop for the little.

“Did you see that, bud?” Zayn whispered to Harry, smiling at the mommy as she led her little boy, Robbie, out of the barber shop. The woman sent the two men a sympathetic look as she took in Harry's nervous body language, it seemed Robbie didn't love haircuts either and she knew exactly what the young parents were going through. “That little boy was brave and he still got to hold his mommy’s hand. And he even got some candy! Getting a haircut isn't so bad.”

“I think Papa's right, Harry. It doesn't have to be scary. You can hold my hand or Papa's hand, or both, or you can hold Honey. Papa and I can tell you a story or sing. And it will be all done in just a few minutes.” Louis added on, trying to shift his arms so he could set Harry down.

But the little realized what his daddy was doing and held on even tighter.

“Harry, sweetie, tell Papa what's got you so scared? Miss Louise isn't scary is she?” Zayn probed, using a somewhat playful voice as he prayed Harry would relax.

Harry shook his head but didn't speak up.

“Then what is it?”

“Scissors..." Harry whispered.

“What about her scissors?”

Harry shook his head and hid his face against Honey. Louis rubbed the boy’s back.

“Baby, Miss Louise is always super careful. All she’s gonna do is trim your hair so it’s not in your eyes so much. And if you're still worried the scissors will hurt you, you just have to remember that Daddy and Papa will be right beside you. And nothing can hurt our little boy when we’re there to protect him.” Louis whispered into Harry’s ear. “And Honey too, you know. Honey can help keep you safe.”

Harry slowly looked up from where he was hiding his face. He absent-mindedly chewed on Honey’s ear and looked between his caregivers. Louis took this as his opportunity to set Harry down in the chair at Louise’s station. Luckily, Harry didn't put up a fight over being set down. Zayn and Louis pulled up chairs to sit on either side of Harry. Zayn gently pulled Honey from Harry’s mouth and replaced the stuffed animal with a pacifier. 

The adults both chatted with Louise as she trimmed the baby’s hair. The little was more than happy to sit quietly and hold his puppy. He just hugged Honey close, occasionally looking around the shop and at the other customers.

“Hey, can we change the channel?” The loud voice of a man getting his hair styled, carried across the shop as he talked to the stylist trimming his beard. “I’m sick of watching these fu-” He stopped himself short as he seemed to remember there was a little sitting just a few chairs down from him. “Sick of watching this.”

Louis and Zayn shot him appreciative looks for censoring himself. Zayn stood up and offered to change the channel. Louise directed him to where they stored the remote and the man began to flip through the channels, listening for the others in the shop to approve or disapprove. He had flipped through shopping networks, reruns of old sitcoms, and a tennis match, but nothing the other adults seemed to agree on. He stopped on a news broadcast as a placeholder while two men began to debate what sport they should watch.

“Papa, come back,” Harry whined, not liking that Zayn had been standing for so long. “Daddy, wha’s Papa doing?” He asked in a rather grumpy voice.

“He’s helping find something to watch on TV, sweets.” Louis explained. This drew Harry’s attention to the TV. There was a man and a woman sitting and talking, but Harry couldn’t hear what they were saying. There were subtitles, but Harry’s headspace was too young to realize what they were for, let alone read them. All he noticed was the grim look on the man’s face, Harry didn’t like this show. He would much rather watch Paw Patrol with Niall. But it still held his attention with all of the moving text at the bottom of the screen and the pictures that kept showing up in small boxes beside the woman’s head.

Zayn was still waiting on the other men to compromise and Louis was in the middle of answering a question Louise had asked about Harry’s hair when the little suddenly went stiff in his chair before he began to sob, dropping Honey.

Zayn immediately set the remote down and went to still Harry’s frantic hands as the clawed at the cape where it was velcroed around the boy’s neck. Once he moved Harry’s hands, Zayn removed the cape, letting it slide to the floor, and lifted Harry into his arms. Harry very nearly jumped onto his papa’s arms, still sobbing and shouting gibberish.

Zayn held the little close and looked over to his husband. Louis’ eyes were frantic as he watched Harry’s meltdown, he was at a loss for what had caused it. As Zayn’s calming movements did nothing to quiet Harry, the man quickly carried him out of the barber shop and toward the car, knowing that Louis would take care of paying, grabbing Zayn’s things and Harry’s stuffed animal, and that Louise would be completely understanding of their sudden departure since she had a young child of her own.

When Louis joined the two in the car, he went straight for the back door and climbed onto the seat next to Zayn. Harry was curled up in Zayn’s arms. He had worked himself up so much that his cries had become nothing more than panicked breaths and sobs. Zayn just continued to rock his baby in his arms and whisper sweet things in his ear.

Louis leaned forward to brush his hands down Harry’s face, trying to comfort him the same way he does when Harry wakes up in the middle of the night from a dirty diaper or a scary dream, but as soon as Harry felt someone’s hand on his face he screamed again and began to kick and flail.

“NO!” The little screeched. “No! No no no no no!”

Louis wanted to cry, he had no idea what had upset his son and now he was at a loss for how to comfort the poor thing.

“Harry, it's only Daddy,” Zayn crooned

“I don’t wan’- I don’t- Don’ go back!”

Zayn did not understand what Harry meant by ‘Don’t go back’ and he was worried that if he reassured the wrong thing it would only worsen Harry’s panic attack.

“Tell Daddy and Papa what’s wrong, sweetheart. We need to know so we can help make it better.” Louis tried.

“Bad! Bad! Bad Harry! On the screen!” Harry whined, his whole body shaking. He buried his face in Zayn’s shirt.

Zayn looked to Louis. “Was he watching the TV? What was on?”

“How should I know? I was talking to Lou. You were the one with the remote.” Louis whispered.

“I was trying to settle those guys’ argument over whether to watch golf or baseball. I just left it on the news, I wasn’t watching it.”

“Well, whatever he saw, it caused this.” Louis said, feeling devastated when he rubbed Harry’s back and felt the little’s heart still beating wildly as he sobbed. “We need to get him home. Let him calm down somewhere comforting. Try to buckle him up.”

Louis slipped out of the back seat and climbed into the driver’s seat. He started the car, but let it sit in the parking lot as Zayn slowly managed to loosen Harry’s grip on him and transition him to his car seat.

The little boy was still sniffling and holding on tight to Zayn’s shirt, mumbling protests that his papa didn’t understand.

By the time Louis pulled into their driveway, Harry’s eyes were beginning to droop. Zayn gingerly carried the baby inside and rocked him as he was carried upstairs while Louis prepared a bottle.

Harry’s breathing was still slightly erratic, but slowly evened out as Zayn sat with him on the glider in his nursery and fed him his warm milk. Neither or the daddies relaxed until Harry’s eyes were firmly shut and he had a pacifier in his mouth. 

;;

Harry was sleeping in his crib and Louis finally convinced Zayn to leave the nursery.

“God, what was that?” Zayn asked as he let himself fall onto his and Louis’ bed, dropping his face in his hands. When Louis said nothing, Zayn looked up, ready to say something else. But Louis was looking at something on his phone. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to figure out what set off Harry. What news channel did you leave the TV on?”

“Um… Channel Nine, I think.”

“Okay… Top stories…” Louis mumbled as he scrolled through the articles. “A new bakery is opening downtown… A trial set for that group arrested for robbing jewelry stores… The high school’s soccer team is going to states… Foster parent couple arrested after accusations of child abuse, god.”

“Open that one, the foster parents.” Zayn said quickly.

“Already open,” Louis’ eyes didn’t leave his phone screen. “Did Harry’s files give a name for his past foster parents?”

“I think so. Does the article say the names?”

Louis held out his phone for Zayn to skim the information, the younger man scrolled past a few paragraphs to photos of a middle aged man and woman.

“That’s them, isn’t it?” Louis asked, his voice betraying the anger building inside of him.

“Yeah, I think I remember seeing these photos on the screen at the barber shop. Harry must have seen their pictures and panicked. Maybe he thought that it meant he’d have to go back to living with them or something.”

“Do you think we should call Perrie from the adoption center?”

Zayn’s brow furrowed, not fully following his husband’s reasoning. “Why?”

“She said that there was going to be an investigation into how Harry’s old foster parents were treating him. If what happened today was his reaction to seeing their _photographs_... I can’t even imagine how he’d react if he saw them in person. This is different from his usual shyness around others, he is flat out terrified of those people.”

“No wonder he ran away.” Zayn muttered. “He’s been doing so well, lately I’ve almost forgotten how much he’s been through. He’s only a baby.”

“I’m going to call Perrie.” Louis said resolutely.

“I’ll be in Harry’s nursery.” Zayn nodded and stood to leave. He needed to be close to his baby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a couple people asked for what happened to harry's old foster parents, so i wrote this to sort of begin that, there is still some more to write about that storyline, but it will happen later 
> 
> as always, if you have any sort of suggestion/request just let me know!


	7. Chapter 7

Harry was sitting in timeout for the second time that day. 

Zayn and Louis were at a loss for why Harry had been acting up so much. After his panic attack from the barber shop, they had been very cautious over how to discipline their little, but they were beginning to feel as if they have been too lenient. 

“I think he’s just testing us,” Louis said quietly, he and Zayn were sitting on their living room couch. They were both angled so that they could see into the kitchen where Harry was sitting in a chair facing the corner. The daddies had relented and allowed the little to sit on a pillow rather than just the hardwood seat. But that didn’t ease Harry’s mood. The boy was sitting with his shoulders hunched and his lip set in a firm pout around his pacifier. 

“Testing us?” Zayn asked flatly. “Louis, he has the mindset of a two-year-old.” 

“No, I know. But think about it. He’s finally comfortable around us so he is trying to see just how much he can get away with. So it is important that we don’t let up and we stay consistent with any punishments he earns.” 

“I guess that makes sense.” Zayn conceded. “Maybe he’s feeling a little cooped up too.” 

“Are you wanting to go out somewhere?” Louis’ brow furrowed. 

“How about, we tell him that if he behaves during lunch, we can take him to the park. We could even call Liam and see if he and Niall want to meet us there?” 

Louis thought it over. He glanced between his husband and his little. “That sounds like a good plan.” He said before pulling his phone out of his pocket. There was one minute left on the five he had set for Harry’s timeout. He was tempted to end the timer early, but he had just told Zayn that their punishments should be consistent. He nodded to himself and watched the clock tick down to zero. 

When the timer ended and the alarm buzzed, Louis could see Harry start to move to get out of the chair, but then he stilled himself. Louis couldn’t help but smile at the fact that Harry remembered what his daddies told him about getting out of the timeout chair before told to do so 

The men walked into the kitchen and Zayn took Harry’s hand to have him stand and face them. 

“Can you tell Papa and Daddy what you thought about in your corner?” Zayn asked sweetly. 

Harry worried his pacifier for a minute. “Harry not ‘upposed to throw ‘thuff or go climb over the p’ayroom gate.” He mumbled, lisping even more than usual. 

“That’s right, baby. Can you tell us why it’s not good for Harry to climb over the gate?” Louis urged, rubbing a gentle hand over Harry’s cheek, trying to get the little to make eye contact. 

“Uh… Because… Daddy and Papa say not to?” He asked, clearly unsure but also trying his best to come up with the right answer. 

“Because it isn’t safe to climb over the playroom gate. That is why Daddy and Papa tell you not to. We just want to keep our favorite boy safe.” Louis explained patiently. 

Harry nodded, understanding his daddies’ logic. His eyes felt hot as tears pooled and his gaze sunk back down to the floor. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. 

“Oh darling, come here.” Louis quickly lifted Harry into his arms and cradled his little. “Don’t cry. Daddy and Papa aren’t mad. We were never mad.” 

Zayn stepped closer to the two and ran his fingers through Harry’s hair. “We love you so much, Harry. You don’t have to be sorry for anything.” 

“Was bad…” Harry mumbled into Louis’ neck. 

“No.” Louis crooned. “My sweet boy? Bad? No, I don’t think so. No, my Harry might make a bad decision and disobey his daddies, but he always learns what is right. Because my Harry is a very good boy.” 

“The best little boy.” Zayn supplemented. 

“Exactly!” Louis beamed. “And even the best boys do silly things like throw their toys. But that doesn’t mean they’re bad.” 

Harry smiled into Louis’ neck but still felt too sorry to look at his daddies just yet. 

“So now, I think this very good boy and his daddies are going to have some lunch! And if my baby can show me what a good boy he is and behaves all during his mealtime. I think Papa might have a surprise for him!” 

This got Harry to show his face. He immediately looked to Zayn. “Surprise?”

Zayn nodded and took Harry from Louis’ arms, humming a yes. “That’s right. I just know that you can show us what a good boy you are. So let’s go change that messy diaper while Daddy makes our food, okay?” 

Harry blushed but still nodded, eager to prove his daddies right about how good he can be, and to discover what surprise his papa had in store. 

He pointed over to his high chair. “Lunch now?” He asked. 

Louis chuckled but shook his head. “We’ll have lunch in a minute. First, you need a change.” 

“Tell Daddy what you want for lunch so he can start it up for you,” Zayn suggested as he stepped toward the staircase. 

“Hot dog, please!” Harry grinned at Louis. Louis gave a silly salute as Zayn exited the kitchen with Harry and he started to go gather what he needed. 

“What’s my surprise, Papa?” Harry asked while he was laying on the changing table. Zayn couldn’t help but notice how much progress Harry had made with his headspace. His first week or two living with his daddies he would be silent and beet red for most of his diaper changes, especially his messy diaper changes. But right now, as Zayn wiped him clean, the little was content to chat as if nothing was happening. 

“I can’t tell you, silly!” Zayn laughed. “It’s like Daddy said, if you behave during lunch, then you can get a surprise.” 

“Harry’s good.” Zayn heard the little mumble. 

“That’s right,” Zayn affirmed as he taped Harry’s clean diaper around his waist. “You are very good. You are good and sweet and so so smart! So I know you are going to behave and earn that special surprise!” He said. 

He redressed his baby and helped him stand. He started to pick Harry up, but Harry shook his head and reached to grab Zayn’s hand instead. Zayn figured that Harry might equate behaving with acting a little bigger than usual. It wasn’t an ideal mindset if Zayn was right, but he couldn’t see any real harm in it. 

So he led Harry back to the stairs and slowly walked beside him as he moved his feet down each step one foot at a time. When they were on the ground floor Zayn pressed a quick kiss to Harry’s temple. 

“Lunch!” Harry cheered when he entered the kitchen and saw that Louis was cutting up a fried hot dog into little pieces. The little let go of his papa’s hand and toddled to his high chair, starting to try and climb into it on his own. 

Zayn pulled out his phone and silently took as many pictures as he could manage, but then Harry’s foot almost slipped as he tried to balance it on the little bar between the chair’s legs, so Zayn quickly pocketed his phone and moved to stand behind his little. “Let Papa help you.” He said, keeping his voice firm despite the goofy fond smile on his face. He did not need Harry arguing that he didn’t need help. 

By the time Harry had his tray locked in over his lap and a bib around his neck, there was a bright green plate being set in front of him with his chopped up hot dog and ketchup. Louis also handed him a sippy cup of water and a baby fork with an easy-to-grip handle and dull-edged tines. Harry wasted no time stabbing at his hot dogs and smearing them through the ketchup. 

Louis and Zayn made themselves sandwiches and stood at the kitchen island to eat, letting Harry feel like a big boy and feed himself. 

“I texted Li while you two were upstairs. He says they can meet us in half an hour.” Louis said to Zayn when he was sure Harry wasn’t listening, he would hate to spoil the surprise. 

“Perfect.” Zayn smiled. 

Harry announced that he was full and even made a point of sticking his chin out when Zayn approached him with a wet cloth to wipe the ketchup off his face, usually he squirms and tries to push his daddies’ hands away when they wipe his face. 

“Can you guess what your surprise is sweetpea?” Louis asked after putting the dirty dishes in the sink. 

“Is it candy?” Harry asked hopefully. 

“You’re still hungry?” Louis asked, pretending to be shocked. 

Harry just nodded with a grin on his face. “For candy!”

Louis laughed at his cheeky baby. “It isn’t candy, baby.”

Harry scrunched up his face, he couldn’t think of anything else that would make a good surprise. 

“Daddy and I are taking you to the park, string bean!” Zayn said since he understood Harry’s expression and knew the little wasn’t going to guess again. 

“What we do there?” Harry asked, his eyes bright with curiosity. 

“There is a big playset with slides and monkey bars and climbing walls. You can go on the swings or sit in the sandbox. Daddy is going to bring a picnic blanket and snacks! And guess what else!” Louis spoke as he helped Harry out of the high chair. 

“What?” Harry grinned, mirroring his daddy’s energy. 

“Niall is gonna be there too!” 

Harry gasped. He loved Niall! The park sounded perfect! “We go now?” He jumped on the balls of his feet, tugging on Louis’ shirt sleeve. 

The two men loved to see Harry so excited and obliged to his request. Zayn got Harry changed out of cozy house clothes and into some jean shorts and a onesie with a frog on it. Harry picked out two mismatching socks. He insisted that he _absolutely had_ to wear both a yellow and pink striped sock and a beauty and the beast sock. When he was brought to the front door with his shoes all sitting in the little cubbies, he looked around for his daddy. 

“Wanna match shoes.” He told Zayn. 

Zayn smiled fondly, he often teased his husband for his insistence on having vans in every color of the rainbow. But now they had Harry, and Harry loved matching shoes with his daddy so much that Zayn couldn’t say a word. 

“Lou, what shoes are you wearing?” 

Louis popped in from where he was packing snacks in the diaper bag. “Why?” 

“We gotta match, Daddy!” Harry said, exasperated. 

“Oh! You’re right! How silly of me!” Louis looked at Harry's outfit and with the cute frog sitting on a lily pad in the pond on the little’s chest, he figured some bright blue vans would look very cute. He leaned down and picked up Harry’s and handed them to Zayn. “Be good and let Papa put your sneakers on, and I will get mine. 

The car ride to the park was quick and Harry was bouncing in his car seat the whole way there. Zayn spotted Liam’s car in the parking lot and pulled in next to it. Liam had apparently only just gotten there himself and was still gathering Niall’s diaper bag and a lunch box from the boot. 

The daddies had decided to meet at a public park that catered to both families with littles and families with biological children. The centerpiece of the park was a beautiful pond and on either side was a play area, one for biological children, and the other designed for littles. 

“Hey there!” Liam greeted his friends as Zayn and Louis climbed out of the front seats of the SUV. 

“Fancy meeting you here!” Louis joked as he walked around the car with Harry’s diaper bag slung over his shoulder. 

Zayn unbuckled Harry and set the boy on the ground next to him. Before he could grab his little’s hand, Harry moved to stand next to Liam and grab his arm. “Hi Uncle Li!” Harry shouted. “Where Niall?” 

“Hey buddy,” Liam cooed. “Niall is still in his car seat, go stand with your daddies so I can help him out, alright?” 

“‘Kay!”

Liam quickly pulled his squirmy little from his car seat, his hand moved to check his diaper. 

“Niall!” Harry squealed. 

“Harry!” Niall squirmed until Liam set him down so he could wrap Harry is a big hug. “Harry you gotta see the slides! Come on!” He began to pull his friend toward the playset. 

“Niall James! What are the rules when we are at the park?” Liam said in a stern voice. Even though he asked a question, it was clearly said as a command for Niall to stop in his tracks to give his answer. 

Niall turned around to face his daddy, looking sheepish. “Make sure Daddy can see me.” 

“That’s right.” Liam, Louis, and Zayn all caught up to the two boys. “Can you tell me a few more?”

“Uh… Don’t eat anything I find on the ground. Play nice and share. Tell Daddy when I need a change. Use words, no hitting.” Niall listed off the biggest rules he could think of. 

“Those are my rules too!” Harry spoke up looking at Niall before turning to his daddies. 

“That’s right, smart boy.” Louis smiled. “So it’s important you wait until Papa, Uncle Liam, and I say it’s okay to go the playground. 

The three caregivers led the littles to the spot where their picnic blanket was going to be placed. Louis and Liam both began to pull things out of their respective diaper bags. 

“Harry, do you want a paci while you play?” Louis asked. 

“Yes please,”

“Good manners.” Louis praised as he clipped a pacifier strap to Harry’s onesie.

Liam looked up at the sky. “It’s sunnier than I thought it would be. Niall, come here so Daddy can put some sunscreen on you. Do you guys need any?” He switched his voice between talking to Niall and asking Louis. 

“No, I’m sure I have some in here,” Louis answered and dug through the bag until he finally found the Little-specific sunblock he needed for Harry’s sensitive skin. 

The babies both groaned but knew better than to argue. If they got in trouble that meant they would have to wait _even longer_ before they could play. They stood and waited patiently while their daddies rubbed the lotion all over their arms and legs and faces.

Once they were both deemed ready, Niall grabbed Harry’s hand again and led him to the slides. They ran around the play equipment for the better part of twenty minutes before the sandbox caught Harry’s eye and he asked Niall if they could play there.

Niall grinned. “Yeah! Let’s race!” Niall loved playing outside because it meant that Daddy couldn’t tell him he had to use an inside voice or inside feet. So he could shout and run all he wanted, so long as he followed his other rules. 

Harry hesitated because the last time he tried running while he was playing, he fell down and Daddy had to rub that yucky cream on his boo-boos. But Niall was just so cool, and Harry didn’t want to disappoint his friend. “O-okay.” 

“Ready. Set. Go!” Niall yelled and started to run. Similar to Harry, Niall’s run was more of a quick waddle. Niall’s headspace was a little older than Harry’s but that didn’t mean his coordination was much better. 

The three daddies watch the impromptu race nervously but were relieved to see both babies reach the sandbox without falling. 

“I win!” Niall jumped up and down. Harry just smiled and nodded, he wasn’t feeling very competitive especially since winning made Niall so happy. 

“Can we make a sandcastle?” Harry asked. Niall beamed and nodded before sitting in the sand next to Harry and getting to work. 

Their sandcastle was really just three or four big mounds piled near each other, but to the littles, it was like they were in a different world. 

“In my castle, my daddies are th’kings.” Harry explained, sprinkling more sand on top of his biggest mound. That’s how he played with his castle at home too. His Papa and Daddy were the kings and Harry was the prince. 

“Cool! My daddy can be king in mine, and they can all be friends! And play king games!” 

“Kings like to throw big parties,” Harry said, imagining all of the knights and horses from his favorite playset. “Everyone gets to come and dance! ‘Nd sometimes they kiss!” Harry giggled and blushed. 

“Ew!” Niall laughed. 

“Not kiss like Daddy Kissies!” Harry corrected with a goofy grin. “Those are yucky!” 

“Daddy Kissies?” 

“Yeah, my papa and daddy kiss each other but those are Daddy Kissies, just for them. They’re different from Baby Kissies. Those are all for me.” Harry puffed his chest out just a bit. 

“My daddy gives me kissies like that too! I think he gives his Daddy Kissies to Jordan.” Niall said thoughtfully. 

“Who is Jordan?” Harry knew that Niall only had one daddy, and that was Uncle Liam so, he had no idea who Uncle Liam could be giving Daddy Kissies to if he was Niall’s only daddy. 

“He’s Daddy’s _boyfriend_!” Niall stage whispers. “He says they are just friends, but I know that they like to kiss too!” 

Harry’s brow furrowed. What was a boyfriend? Wasn’t Niall a boy friend of his? Harry didn’t want to kiss Niall, though.

“What’s a boyfriend?” 

Niall just shrugged. “I don’t know. But I like Jordan, he plays Candyland with me!” 

Jordan does sound good, Harry thought to himself. The two littles were quickly distracted from the topic now that Niall had brought up Candyland. 

Soon, Niall’s sandcastle was being attacked by gingerbread men, and he and Harry were doing everything they could to stop it.

Harry would have liked to play longer, but he could feel his diaper sag as he moved around. He hadn’t even noticed he had wet himself until then. He frowned at the discomfort before looking over at his daddies. “Daddy! Papa!” He called out as loud as he could. 

Louis was the one to come over to the sandbox. Both caregivers recognized Harry’s expression and knew he really only needed one of them to change him.

“Come here, darling.” Louis lifted Harry out of the sandbox and settled him on his hip. Harry grumbled about his diaper before sliding his paci into his mouth. 

“Niall, do you need a change?” Louis went ahead and asked. Niall just shook his head. “Okay, well why don’t you come back to the blanket and sit with your daddy and Uncle Zayn while I help Harry, okay? When we come back we can all have a snack.” Niall nodded and stood, grabbing Louis’ free hand to walk with him. 

Louis rubbed Niall’s hair before the boy was climbing into Liam’s lap. Zayn handed Louis the diaper bag and Louis took Harry to the little changing station by the restrooms. 

When they came back, Niall was eating a cheese stick and telling Liam and Zayn all about his and Harry’s sandcastles and how they stopped the bad candies from tearing everything down. 

After their snack, Niall and Harry wanted their daddies to push them on the swings. The little swings were similar to baby swings with a sturdier seat and a buckle so they couldn’t fall out. While Niall kept urging Liam to push him higher and higher. Harry just giggled at his friend from behind his pacifier while his daddies pushed him gently back and forth until the repetitive movement caused his eyes to start to droop. 

Louis slowed Harry’s swing to a stop and picked him up out of the swing. Harry whined, he wanted to keep playing, but he still wrapped his arms around his daddy and rested his head on Louis’ shoulder. 

“Say bye to Niall and Uncle Liam, okay?” 

Harry waved goodbye to his friend before closing her eyes and snuggling into Louis. Harry fell asleep on the car ride home. 

;;

After his nap, Harry was in a very good mood. He was in the living room, sitting on Louis’ lap and slowly putting together a small puzzle. Zayn had picked out plenty of puzzles just for littles in Harry’s headspace, they were wooden boards with the pieces cut out and the image printed underneath to make it easier. Right now he was putting together his farm animals puzzle. He matched a piece with a sheep to the picture below and slid it into its place and looked to his Daddy for approval. 

“Good job, Harry!” Louis cheered and pressed a kiss to the little’s cheek. Harry babbled happily and started looking for another piece. Zayn walked in a minute later, ready to announce dinner, but stopped and watched as Harry figured out where to put the last few pieces. The boy had his tongue sticking out in concentration and Louis’ hand was gently carding through his hair. Zayn took pictures on his phone. Most of the pictures on his phone were of Harry now. 

Harry put the last piece in its place and clapped his hands together. “I did it!” He picked up the puzzle board to show it off. 

“Look at all those animals! Good job, sweetheart!” Zayn cheered. 

Harry beamed as he was carried to the kitchen and placed in his high chair. “What’s dinner?” 

“Tomato soup and grilled cheese,” Zayn said and placed a bowl on the high chair tray along with a plate with a grilled cheese cut into quarters, and small piles of goldfish, carrots, and cauliflower. 

“I feed myself?” He looked up at his papa as the man placed a bib around his neck. 

Zayn and Louis shared a wary glance. Harry was on the edge of a much younger headspace than usual and they both knew that it would not go well if he tried to use his spoon on his own. 

“You can feed yourself your sandwich and your crackers and veggies, but Daddy is going to help you with your soup,” Louis said. 

“Okay!” Harry nodded and picked up a piece of his sandwich to dip it in his bowl. After he lifted it up and took a bite, he smiled at his daddies with tomato soup dripping out of his mouth and down his chin. 

Louis grinned back at his baby and wiped his chin. 

Harry was much more content to let Louis maneuver the spoon so he could eat his soup, but he liked dipping his sandwich and crackers in on his own even more. He dropped two goldfish in and giggled when they made a tiny splash. He poked one so that it would float closer to the other. 

“Harry, don’t stick your fingers in your soup, please,” Louis said. 

“But Daddy, they’re kissin’!” Harry pointed at the crackers, whose noses bumped into each other. 

“Oh, like this?” Zayn asked and leaned forward to press a smooch to Harry’s cheek. 

Harry giggled even more. “No, Papa. They’re kissin’ on their mouths. Like Daddy Kissies.” 

“Oh, so like this.” Zayn moved closer to Louis and pressed a quick peck to Louis’ lips. 

“Yeah!” 

“How sweet.” Louis cooed and scooped the crackers up and held the spoon to the little’s lips. 

Harry happily opened his mouth for a bite. 

He kept eating and giggling at his daddies, but the Daddy Kissies reminded him of what he and Niall talked about at the park. 

“What’s a boyfriend?” He asked, tilting his head. 

Louis paused, halfway through taking a bite of his own grilled cheese. Zayn was staring at his husband, unsure how to continue. 

“Why, baby?” 

“Niall said his daddy’s got one.”

Louis raised his eyebrows at this, Liam had not told him or Zayn about seeing someone.

“A boyfriend is… someone a person spends a lot of time with and feels very special about. Because they like them. But it’s a different feeling than a daddy and baby feeling.” Zayn stumbled through his explanation. 

“Are you and Daddy boyfriends?” 

Zayn and Louis both smiled warmly at one another before Zayn faced Harry again. “We used to be, babes.” 

Harry’s eyebrows scrunched together as he processed Zayn’s answer. “You’re not anymore? You stopped liking Daddy?” He asked, his voice wavering at the thought. 

“Oh, Harry, baby, no,” Zayn said quickly, trying his best to keep Harry from crying. “Daddy and I still like each other very much. Actually, we like each other _so_ much that we stopped being boyfriends and got married.” 

Harry stared at his papa, not comprehending why that was better. 

“So instead of boyfriends, we are husbands. Which means we live together and love each other, and adopted a cute little boy together!” Zayn explained further, reaching over the high chair tray and tickled Harry’s tummy.  

This was successful in keeping Harry from crying, but he still had questions. “How come Uncle Liam has a little boy before he gots a married?” Harry knew for a fact that Jordan wasn’t Niall’s daddy and he did not live with Niall and Liam. So he probably was just Liam’s boyfriend and not his husband. 

“Well,” Louis started. “Some families do things in a different order. Like how some families have a daddy and a mommy instead of two daddies. Some families have two mommies, or just one. Niall just has one daddy but he and Uncle Liam are still a family.”

“With a boyfriend?” 

“That’s right,” Louis said matter-of-factly and hoped his tone would signal that the conversation was over. He didn’t think his baby needed to worry about stuff like boyfriends or marriage. 

“I like having two daddies.” Harry nodded and smiled. “I used to not have a mommy or a daddy, so now I get two!” 

Zayn and Louis’ hearts broke just a bit, like they always do whenever they’re reminded of how tough life had been for Harry. 

“We are so lucky to have a baby boy like you, Harry,” Louis stated simply. He wasn’t sure if Harry fully understood what he meant by it, but that wasn’t going to stop him from saying it as often as he could. 

;;

“Hey, Z?” Louis called out from his and Zayn’s shared closet. “Have you seen my blue hoodie? The Adidas one?” He asked as he continued to dig through his jackets and hoodies. 

“No. Why?” 

“I’m chilly. I thought I left my blue one by the bed...”

“Just wear a different hoodie, love,” Zayn suggested from where he was lounging on their bed and reading. 

“Fine, but I still want to find that blue one!” Louis stepped out of the closet, speaking as he pulled a grey hoodie over his head. 

Louis got on the bed, crawling over and resting his head on Zayn’s shoulder. “What’s the baby up to?” 

Louis had spent the morning working in his home office on the ground floor. Zayn’s family was very wealthy and he inherited enough to provide for Louis and Harry on his own, but Louis still wanted to work and not leave all of the expenses up to his husband. And fortunately, his editing job allowed him to work from home. 

“He’s in his nursery playing with Honey,” Zayn answered without looking up from his book and reached to hold up the baby monitor and the little noises filtered through as Harry babbled on the other end. 

“Did you two have a nice morning?” 

“We did. He ate almost all of his green beans that I gave him with his chicken nuggets. We played dress up and then we read some of his picture books. He really likes the Elmo ones. Even took one and told me he was going to read to me.” Zayn smiled at the fresh memory. 

“Oh, how did that go?” Louis cooed. 

“It was precious. He totally ignored the words and just looked at the pictures and made up a story from that.” 

“Do you think he knows how to read? I mean, if he was in his oldest possible headspace, or, god forbid, he came out of headspace, do you think he would be able to read?” 

Zayn thought on Louis’ question. “I really don’t know, Lou. He’s so little though, I don’t see why it’s anything to worry about.” 

“I know, but _if_ he can’t, I think it would be fun to try and teach him a little. Just the alphabet at the very least.” 

“That would be very cute,” Zayn agreed. “He likes the Sesame Street characters so much, I bet he would love watching them teach him his letters.” 

“Papa, need a change!” Harry’s light voice came from the baby monitor and caught both caregivers’ attention. 

Louis rested a hand on Zayn’s arm. “You’ve been on Daddy Duty all morning, babe. I’ll get it.” Louis rolled off of the bed. 

Louis walked down the hallway to Harry’s nursery where Harry had carried on his playing with Honey while he waited for a diaper change. 

“H-”Louis was caught off guard and cut himself off at the sight of his favorite blue hoodie, on his baby. 

The fifteen-year-old was close to swimming in the hoodie, Louis liked to wear a size bigger than he is, so Harry’s thin frame was easily blanketed in the fabric. 

“Daddy!” Harry squealed. Papa had told him that Daddy couldn’t play yet today because he was very busy working, so Harry was very excited to see his other caregiver after so long. 

“Hi sweet cheeks!” Louis said, not even bothering to hide the goofy grin on his face seeing Harry wriggle his hands until they popped out from their sweater paws. “What are you doing in Daddy’s hoodie?” He asked as he lifted Harry from the floor and carried him over to the changing table. 

“I was cold, Daddy. And I couldn’t reach my blankies in my crib,” He pointed to his crib with its side locked in the up position and the inner padding making it hard to reach in through the bars. “So, I went to find Papa in your room and ask for a blankie, but he wasn’t there! I think he was on the potty. But I sawed this on your bed and it’s warm just like a blankie! And I look like you, Daddy!” Harry giggled. 

“Maybe Papa should make our house a little warmer, hmm?” Louis laughed at the similarity between him and his baby. “Daddy felt chilly too. And when I went to go get a hoodie to warm up, I couldn’t find it!” He explained as he finished Harry’s change and reached to tickled his tummy. After his laughter subsided, Harry looked confused and a pout formed on his lips as he seemed to make the connection that his daddy had been looking for the sweater that he took. 

“Let’s go cuddle with Papa so we can get warm,” Louis suggested, he could sense Harry was about to apologize, but he didn’t want his little to feel sorry. The suggestion successfully distracted the boy. Louis slid some fuzzy socks over Harry’s feet before he set him on the floor so he could grab Honey before they went back down the hall. 

“Papa, we’re gonna snuggle!” Harry shouts and toddled up to the bed and did his best to climb onto the high-set mattress on his own. 

“My favorite boys!” Zayn echoes Harry’s enthusiasm with ease. He lifted the duvet to make it even easier for Harry to burrow into his spot between the two men. “Looks like you found your hoodie, then.” He joked, looking at his husband. 

“I look like Daddy!” Harry answered, beaming at his statement. 

The little family laid in their cuddle pile. Harry was wrapped up in Zayn’s arms and holding Honey in his own as he told Louis about everything that he and Papa did that morning. They were all content to rest until Harry drifted into a nap, with Louis and Zayn very near. 

Until, Louis’ cell phone rang and caused the two adults to jolt out of their half-asleep state. Harry whined and his eyes teared up at being woken up so soon into his nap. Louis quickly scrambled to grab and answer his phone while Zayn calmed Harry down. 

“Hello?” Louis said in a hushed voice. “Oh, yes, how are you?” As he spoke to the person on the other end, he got off of the bed and exited the bedroom. 

“No Daddy?” Harry asked once he stopped whining and finally looked over for Louis. 

“Daddy is just talking on the phone. He’s gonna be right back. Go ahead and sleep, sweet boy.” Zayn kissed Harry’s forehead and hummed a lullaby until Harry’s eyelids were firmly shut again. 

It was several minutes before Louis came back into the bedroom and re-joined Zayn and Harry on the bed. 

“Who was that?” Zayn whispered, unable to fall asleep. 

“It was Perrie, from the adoption center. Harry’s old foster parents have a court date. There were three kids still in their care and two of them have been cleared to take the stand with a child-advocate. The prosecuting lawyer learned that they were responsible for a little and didn’t properly handle his classification. They want to use that. She asked if we were willingly to let Harry talk to a little psychologist, give a testimony for the lawyer to report, even see if he is fit to take the stand.” Louis spoke gravely. 

“Take the stand?! No. No, he can’t do that.” Zayn had to stop himself from shouting. 

“Z, listen, I get what you’re feeling right now. But I think we should consider taking him to the little psychologist. His input could help guarantee they get locked up. Not to mention, I think it might help Harry.” Louis looked down and gently brushed a strand of hair off of his little’s forehead. “Maybe it could help him get closure.”

Zayn still looked unsure. 

“Let’s not decide anything yet. I told Perrie we would get back to her. Think it over. Besides, we can’t make a final decision without Harry’s input. In the end, it’s up to him.” 

Zayn nodded. “I’ll think about it, Louis. Right now, I just want to rest with the two of you.”

“‘Course, babe.” Louis leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Zayn’s lips before readjusting to lie down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW! sorry for that 
> 
> i cant promise when the next chapter will be up, im impressed i got this one done considering my course load! but i hope yall enjoy this and thanks for sticking around !!!
> 
> please let me know what you think!


	8. Chapter 8

“Thanks again for agreeing to watch him on such short notice,” Liam said as he was nearly out the door of the Malik-Tomlinson house. 

“Liam, you really don’t need to thank us. You know we love Niall almost as much as you do, why wouldn’t we agree to watch him?” Louis eased his friend. He could tell Liam felt guilty for not planning this impromptu “play date” but he had gotten a text from his mother about his sister finally going into labor for the birth of her twins and he knew he couldn’t bring Niall with him to the hospital, but he also wanted to support his sister and brother-in-law. The babies technically weren’t due for another month and a half, but seven and a half months was longer than some twins took before being born. And since they were coming prematurely, it was an issue of the newborns’ health that Niall not come along. No matter how clean Liam would make absolutely sure his little is, it wouldn’t change the risks of bringing a little into the maternity ward given both their tendency to spread germs and get sick so easily with the way their immune systems worked. 

“I seriously owe you one,” Liam said again. “I mean, Ruth lives four hours away, I’m gonna be gonna there overnight. Niall shouldn’t have any issues but he can get antsy at bedtime. Literally, anytime the two of you want a night to yourselves you can bring Harry over, I swear. You don’t even need to give me an excuse. You can just text me that you’re horny and I’ll watch the baby for you.”

“Liam! It’s seriously not a big deal,” Zayn laughed at how Liam’s excitement and gratitude were getting him worked up and causing him to ramble. 

“Okay, okay, I’m going! Don’t forget to call or facetime me before you put him to bed okay?” Liam looked over to where Niall was sitting on the living room floor playing with Harry with his spaceship shaped backpack still on his shoulders. Liam spoke up so the littles would hear him. “Niall, Daddy’s going now! Be good for Uncle Louis and Uncle Zayn, okay? I love you and I will be back to pick you up tomorrow night.” 

Niall looked up and grinned at his caregiver. “Bye bye Daddy! I love you more! Tell Aunt Ruthie and Auntie Nicola and Grammy and Grampa and the new babies I say ‘Hi!’ pretty please!”

“I will, Tiger. Bye bye! Bye Harry! Thanks again you two,” He said before he was out the door. 

Louis closed the door behind Liam and he and Zayn went to the living room. 

“Your daddy sure is silly, Niall,” Zayn said, making Niall giggle. 

“Niall, why don’t we take off that backpack? I can go put it in Harry’s nursery with your diaper bag.” 

“Wait! No thank you, Uncle Louis. I got my toys in here! I wanna show Harry!” 

“Okay, bud.” 

“Daddy? Can me and Niall go play in the playroom?” Harry spoke up. 

“Absolutely!” Louis cheered and reached to pick Harry up off the floor as Zayn did the same with Niall so the littles could be carried up the stairs. 

Louis set Harry down so that he could unlatch the little-gate in the playroom doorway and as soon as he did, Harry rushed past him into his playroom with Niall close behind him once Zayn set him on his feet. Zayn double checked that the monitor in the playroom was on before he exited the room and Louis locked the gate again. 

“Okay, boys, I am gonna be down the hall working while Papa sets Niall’s crib up in your nursery, Harry. Play nice.” Louis explained. 

“We will, Daddy,”

After Zayn and Louis were out of sight, Harry looked to his best friend. “What’s in your backpack?” 

Niall grinned and squirmed excitedly to slide his bag off of his shoulders. He sat down on the plush carpet and unzipped the biggest compartment of the backpack. “I brought my Buzz Lightyear! Me and Daddy _love_ Toy Story! It’s our fav-or-ite-est movie! And soon I’m gonna get to watch it with my little baby cousins!” 

“Where are your cousins? Why’d your daddy go see them but not you?” 

If Liam had not been so fastidious about informing Niall about how his aunt has been pregnant for the last seven and half months and how it was safer for Niall to not go to the hospital (which Niall was fine with, he did not like hospitals or medicine or small rooms anyway) Niall might have been sad about Harry pointing out that he wasn’t allowed to go. But instead, Niall was just eager to explain all that he knew to Harry. 

Niall loved seeming so smart whenever he answered Harry’s big questions. 

“My cousins are in my Aunt Ruthie’s tummy! That’s how little tiny babies show up. They grow in a mommy’s tummy until it’s time to come out, and then it’s their birthday. But when they come out they’re still teeny tiny so everyone’s gotta be all clean and quiet and gentle ‘round them. And Daddy says all they like to do is sleep. I won’t get to play with them or watch Toy Story with them till they’re bigger like me.” 

Harry was enraptured with Niall’s explanation. As much as Niall loved seeming smart, Harry loved listening to Niall explain things. 

“You can watch Toy Story with me since your tiny cousins can’t yet,” Harry suggested. He didn’t love Toy Story as much as he liked his other movies, Sid the bully scared him, but he liked it enough to watch it with Niall. Because Harry loved Niall. 

Niall grinned and cheered. 

They decided that after Zayn and Louis were done working and setting up the nursery, they would ask to watch the movie. Until then they were content to play. 

“Oh! I got more stuff in my backpack!” Niall said. He unzipped the smaller compartment and pulled out a big book. 

“A coloring book?” Harry asked, looking over at his craft table where all his crayons were. 

“No, it’s a sticker book!” He opened to a random page that was a blank cityscape. “It’s got cool pictures and you can put the stickers on the picture to make it even cooler!” He flipped the pages until he found one he had already covered. The background had been a forest and Niall had covered the trees in stickers of animals and flowers and some unrelated things like superheroes and robots. “Daddy let me bring two! So we can both do one,” Niall explained as he handed the book to Harry and pulled the second one from his backpack.

“Fanks!” Harry grinned and pulled Niall over to the craft table so they could get started. 

;;

After Zayn had set up the pack-and-play crib they kept on hand for Niall’s visits, he got started on making dinner. He brought the baby monitor with him in the kitchen so that Louis could stay focused on his manuscript for work. Zayn had laughed at Niall’s adorable explanation of pregnancy and cooed at how excited the two littles were over Niall’s sticker book. Liam always found such cute ways to entertain his little. 

For the past ten minutes, while he cooked up the chicken for some tacos, setting a portion of the meat aside with only a little bit of seasoning for the babies, he listened to quiet but excited voices go back and forth asking each other where to put their stickers. 

He set the food aside to cool before dinner and returned to the second floor. He knocked lightly on the master bedroom door before opening it and peering inside, Louis was still hunched over his laptop with his glasses perched on his nose. 

“Dinner’s ready, you in a good place to stop?” 

Louis looked up and removed his glasses to rub his eyes. “Yeah, yeah now’s fine.” 

“Great, come help me with the babies. I’m sure at least one of them needs a change before we eat.” 

“Right,” Louis rolled off of the bed and followed his husband down the hall to the playroom. 

When they reached the gate, both caretakers stood shocked at what they saw. 

The wall behind Harry’s craft table and the table itself was absolutely _covered_ in cartoon stickers. There were more stickers spread out on the other walls and Harry’s toy shelves, some were even in the carpet. And then their eyes fell to the two little boys sitting on the carpet. Niall’s shirt was covered in flower stickers like they were badges. He had superhero stickers littering his arms like tattoos. And Harry had four stickers stuck to his face, two were alphabet stickers, a D under his eye and an N on his forehead, a butterfly sticker was next to the N, and there was a sparkly pink heart on his chin, almost as many were on his torso as Niall’s and there was what looked like a baseball sticker tangled in his curls. 

“Daddy! Papa! Niall brought stickers!” Harry said happily when he noticed his parents watching them. He laughed and peeled a giraffe off of his sticker sheet before placing it on Niall’s knee. 

“Oh my god,” Louis said under his breath before he began to laugh. He was feeling slightly hysterical at the mess of the room, but he knew he couldn’t be upset with the littles. They were having fun and there was not a rule that specifically said they couldn’t cover the playroom in stickers. 

“Look at all these stickers,” Zayn said as he opened the playroom gate and he led Louis in. “Did you two put any in your sticker books? Or did they all go on your shirts?” He teased. 

Harry giggled loudly. “I made pictures in the book too. Wanna see?”

“I would love to see those later tonight, sweet pea. Right now it’s time for dinner. But first, let Papa take a picture of you and Niall to send to Uncle Liam, okay?” 

The babies nodded and wrapped their arms around each other before giving big cheesy smiles for the camera. 

Zayn sent the picture to Liam with the message. 

**“The boys are having a great time with those sticker books you sent. How is Ruth? The babies here yet?”**

Liam texted back almost immediately. 

**“Ha! Consider those stickers payback from when Louis gave Niall a drum set on his birthday! Ruth’s in the OR now for the c-section. Will update you when she’s out! Tell Niall I love him!”**

Zayn rolled his eyes and picked Niall up to take him to the changing table in Harry’s nursery while Louis had Harry lie down on a towel he brought into the playroom. 

“Is my daddy almost done?” Niall asked as Zayn changed his diaper and picked a couple of stickers off of Niall’s arms and legs.

“Not yet, buddy. The doctors are still working on helping get your baby cousins out of your Aunt Ruth’s belly.”

“I miss Daddy,” Niall said quietly, looking around the unfamiliar nursery. 

“Your daddy misses you too, sweetheart,” Zayn said as he redressed Niall. “And I’ll bet he brings you a surprise when he picks you up tomorrow for behaving so well for me and Uncle Louis.” Liam had not told Zayn he was going to get Niall a present but Zayn and Louis had been babysitters for Niall even before they adopted Harry, and whenever Liam needed them to watch Niall overnight he would return with a little trinket or some sweets for his little, especially if it wasn’t planned ahead of time. 

“Like a new soccer ball?!” Niall almost shouted in his excitement, his blue eyes widened and his mouth hung open a bit. 

“I don’t know, it’s a surprise.” Zayn teased. 

Zayn brought Niall downstairs to the kitchen where Louis had already brought Harry. Harry had his bib around his neck and he was sitting at the table instead of his high chair. The little squirmed in his seat, clearly trying to get comfortable. Zayn chuckled when he saw that Louis let Harry keep the butterfly sticker on his forehead. 

He set Niall in the chair next to Harry and listened to the two littles chat happily about getting to sit at the “big boy table.”

Dinner went by without a hitch, both boys ate nearly all of their chicken tacos with little need of help from Louis and Zayn, and barely any mess. 

As Louis wiped Harry’s face with a baby wipe, Niall remembered Harry offering to watch Toy Story with him. 

“Uncle Louis?” Niall looked up as Louis moved to wipe Niall’s cheeks and remove his bib. 

“What’s up, babes?” 

“Can me and Harry watch Toy Story?”

“Sure thing.” Louis smiled and led the littles into the living room. 

“Daddy, I need Honey,” Harry said once he and Niall were situated on the living room couch under a throw blanket. “And-and a paci, please.”

“Good manners, Harry,” Louis made sure to say. “Niall, do you want a pacifier too?”

“Yes please, and my stuffie too? Daddy packed her in my diaper bag not my backpack, I think.” 

Louis nodded and put the Toy Story DVD into the player before going upstairs to retrieve the pacifiers and stuffed animals. With the babies settled, Louis joined Zayn on the loveseat and pressed a quick kiss to his husband’s lips, stifling a laugh when Harry and Niall squealed about “cooties”. 

Once the movie was over, Zayn took Harry to the master bedroom for some “Harry and Papa Time” before bed while Louis took Niall into the nursery to change him into his pajamas before sitting down with Niall on the glider and facetiming Liam.

Liam picked up on the first ring, his sleepy face taking over the phone screen. 

“Daddy!” Niall squealed. “I miss you!” 

“I miss you too, love bug!” Liam answered with matching enthusiasm. 

“Where are my cousins? I wanna see them!” 

“The babies are still in the hospital with Aunt Ruth. But I promise I will show you pictures later.”

Niall’s face scrunched up in confusion. “You’re not at the hospital no more?”

“No, Niall. It’s bedtime so I’m at Grammy and Grampa’s house.” Liam explained. “I’m about to go to sleep and tomorrow I’m going to go visit Aunt Ruth and her babies one more time before I come back home and pick you up from Uncle Zayn and Louis.”

“Are you gonna bring me a surprise?” Niall asked. 

Liam grinned. “It wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, Bug.” 

Niall yawned before responding. “That’s not fair, Daddy!” He whined. 

“Hey now, none of that.” Liam lightly chided. “It’s bedtime. So let’s keep being so good and get some sleep and I will see you tomorrow.”

Niall sighed. “Okay. I love you, Daddy! Miss you! Mwah!” 

“I love you more, Niall. Night night!” 

Liam ended the facetime call after more kisses blown between him and Niall. Louis carried Niall to the temporary crib and made sure he had plenty of pillows, blankets, a pacifier, and his stuffed bear. 

A minute later, Zayn entered the nursery with Harry on his hip. 

Harry already had his pacifier in his mouth and Honey clutched close to his chest as he blinked lazily at Louis and Niall. Zayn placed Harry in his crib and locked the sidebar in place. Louis began to read a bedtime story, but Harry fell asleep after two pages and Niall was close behind him. 

;;

Zayn grinned down at his little. He had just finished giving Harry a bath after letting him play outside after lunch. Now the little was lying down on his daddies’ bed with just his diaper and a pacifier while Zayn rubbed lotion into his arms and legs. 

Louis walked into the room and immediately went to stand next to his husband and coo at his little. 

“Who’s my sweet boy?” Louis asked before tickling Harry’s bare tummy. Harry laughed loudly and tried to squirm away. 

“Daddy, no!” He giggled and rolled onto his stomach before crawling to the headboard. 

“Daddy, yes!” Louis said and climbed onto the bed. Harry shrieked and yanked the duvet up to hide underneath it. 

Louis gasped dramatically. “Zayn, Harry just disappeared! Help me look for him!” 

Zayn rolled his eyes, his plan had been to keep Harry relaxed after his bath and not work him up like Louis had. But when he listened to the baby’s muffled laughter under the covers, he couldn’t bring himself to tell his husband off for it. Zayn climbed onto the bed, sitting on the other side of the Harry-sized lump on blankets. 

“Where’s the last place you saw him, Lou?”

“Right here on our bed! But now all that’s here is our pillows and blankets,” 

“Hmm, maybe we should lay down and think about where Harry might have gone,” Zayn suggested, moving to sit next to the hiding baby. 

“Good idea,” Louis said. He copied Zayn’s actions so he was lying down on the bed and resting his head on Harry. 

Harry’s giggles filtered out from under the blankets despite clearly trying to muffle himself. 

“Wow, our bed sure has gotten lumpy.” Louis wiggled a bit and Harry laughed even more. 

“Maybe we need to change the sheets,” Zayn said and got off of the bed while Louis copied him. They both grabbed a corner of the duvet.

Zayn looked at Louis and mouthed. “One… Two… Three!” And they pulled back the blanket. Harry squeaked at the sudden loss of the duvet before letting his laughter ring out full volume. 

“Harry! We found you!” Louis said and climbed back onto the bed and pulled Harry into his lap. 

“No tickles?” Harry said as he wriggled, expecting Louis to tickle him again.

“Okay, okay, no tickles,” Louis concedes. “How about cuddles? I think I need some cuddles. I sure was sad that I couldn’t find my boy.”

Harry nodded. “Cuddles are good, but we need Papa too.” 

Zayn had no issue joined Louis and Harry’s cuddle. He looked over Harry’s head and whispered to Louis. “Maybe we should talk?” 

“Now?” Louis whispered back. 

“We have to do it soon,” 

Louis’ face dropped but he nodded. Zayn was right, they couldn’t put it off much longer. 

“Harry, sweetie, can you be a good listener for me and Papa while we cuddle?” Louis spoke up, though his voice was still very soft as he stroked his fingers through Harry’s hair. 

“Okay Daddy, I can listen good.” 

Louis pressed a kiss to the back of Harry’s head. “Do you remember Miss Perrie from the adoption center?” 

Harry’s brow furrowed but he nodded. “Yeah, she was nice,” 

“And do you remember when we took you to Miss Louise to get your haircut but we had to go home early?” 

Harry stiffened in Louis’ arms at the reminder of the trip to the barbershop. “Yeah?”

Louis paused, looking at Zayn since he was unsure how exactly to go on. The two had discussed a general plan, but actually following through was proving difficult especially given how nervous Harry seemed already. 

Zayn took one of Harry’s hands in his. “Can you tell us why you got so upset while Miss Louis was cutting your hair?”

Harry shook his head quickly. Zayn rubbed his thumb across the back of Harry’s hand. “Please, baby, if you talk about it we can help you feel better.” 

It was a couple of minutes before Harry said anything, both caregivers could tell he was trying to gather his thoughts and figure out how to express himself. “The-the TV… there was… Mr. and Mrs. C-c-c-” Harry swallowed thickly. “Don’t like seeing them.” 

“You don’t have to say their names, darling. You’re doing a good job, keep going,” Louis said. 

“I got scared. Used to live with them. They were mean, and they did bad things, they didn’t like Harry. Said I was bad. Bad boy. Just a-a-a stupid baby. They said I had to grow up but I would just get more scared because then…” Harry started shaking his head, eyes full of tears threatening to spill over. He started pinching and picking at the skin on his wrist. 

Louis thought back to the file Perrie had shown him when they met with her about adopting Harry. When he first arrived at the adoption center, his initial physical evaluation included documented bruises, all of which had faded away long before Zayn and Louis attended the open house and net Harry, but that didn’t mean it didn’t upset Louis. It made him angry to think about then and even angrier now after being Harry’s Daddy. 

“I ranned away from them and it was scary but then Eddie brought me to Miss Perrie and I found Daddy and Papa but then we went to Miss Louise. And-and she had scissors and scissors are scary and then their pictures were on the TV! And they were so mean! They hate Harry! Were gonna-were gonna take my daddies away! And call me a bad boy!” Harry was crying and on the edge of hyperventilating. It broke Zayn and Louis’ hearts. Louis tightened his grip around Harry and rocked him back and forth. 

“Shh, Harry, it’s okay. You’re okay.” Zayn tried to calm him, he placed his hand under Harry’s chin to get him to make eye contact. “Thank you for talking with us. It’s important to talk about things that make us sad or scared. Because that way others can help us feel better. Daddy and I want you to feel better.” 

Harry hiccupped as tears still rolled down his cheeks but he took in Zayn’s words. 

“We wanted to talk with you because we know it was scary, but it can help,” Zayn repeated. “And because Miss Perrie gave us some news. Your old foster parents were on the TV because the police arrested them and took them away.” 

“They got in trouble?” Harry asked. 

“They got in big trouble,” Louis answered. “And now Miss Perrie is working with another lady whose job is to make sure they get their punishment. And some of the other boys and girls you used to live with, they told their stories to a nice man so that people can know just how much trouble they should be in. And if you think you can, Papa and I think that you should talk to this nice man too. He can tell Miss Perrie’s friend so that your old foster parents get their punishment, and he can help you feel better.” 

“You and Papa make me feel better tho,” Harry muttered. Louis knew that the whole situation made Harry uncomfortable and talking to a stranger to share traumatic details wasn’t helping Harry’s outlook. 

“Daddy and I can be with you while you talk to him, Harry. I am so glad that you trust us but we can’t help you as well as Dr. Harrington can. If you really don’t want to talk to him, you don’t have to. But I think you will feel a lot better about everything if you do. Daddy and I will still be so proud of you whatever you decide.” 

“Promise?” 

Zayn wrapped his arms around both Harry and Louis. “Of course we promise, Harry.” 

Harry nodded and burrowed into his daddies. He was quiet for a moment before mumbling a soft “Okay,” 

Zayn and Louis stayed wrapped up around their little until Harry started the squirm and whine. Louis got up and carried him to his nursery to put him into some cozy pajamas and read him storybooks while Zayn got in touch with Perrie about setting up and appointment. Harry would meet with the psychologist and give a testimony, but he would decidedly not take the stand. Neither Louis nor Zayn wanted to subject their little boy to have to be in the same room as old former foster parents for even a minute. 

After Zayn hung up he went to the nursery and watched from the doorway as Louis told Harry the story of Cinderella. 

;;

The following weeks were nerve-wracking for the two fathers. Harry had calmed down fairly quickly but Louis and Zayn remained anxious about the whole ordeal. They were in agreement about the benefits and were relieved to know Harry had agreed to do it, but they still hated that any of it was necessary. They hated the fact that their perfect little boy had lived such a hard life up until they adopted him. 

Two days before Harry’s appointment with Dr. Harrington, Louis had to go into town for an all-day meeting with a very important client, he had tried to schedule an online meeting but his boss wouldn’t go for it. He hated it but he knew he would get home in time to spend some of the evening with his family.

Zayn needed to make the most of the situation. He would have preferred Louis to be by his side, and he knew Harry was missing his Daddy. But he was not going to let Harry or himself feel too sorry, so he decided to make the day a “Harry’s Choice Day”. 

Technically any given day was a “Harry’s Choice” day since Louis and Zayn loved to spoil their baby, but Zayn took it to another level with his day alone with Harry. 

He started with cooking Harry’s favorite breakfast, blueberry pancakes served with powdered sugar and a banana. Harry picking out his own outfit after breakfast, resulting in another mismatched look full of loud colors and clashing patterns and a very proud Harry. 

Zayn took Harry to Bundles of Joy. Harry was bouncing the entire drive over, he barely kept still enough for Zayn to unbuckle him from his car seat and he refused to ride in a stroller. He walked side by side with Zayn as they made their way to the toy section.

“Okay, my brave boy, you get to pick out two toys.” 

“Two?!” Harry’s asked with wide eyes. 

“That’s right.” Zayn smiled and Harry’s genuine surprise. 

Harry was slowly walking up and down the aisles, the last time he was here he was tired and shy and had stopped paying close attention to his surroundings. He spotted Honey on the shelf and was then satisfied to be done with their shopping trip. But now, he was full of energy and excitement and had a lot of options that needed to be weighed out. He got to pick _two_ toys after all. 

Zayn walked close behind the little as he checked every toy that caught his eye. He watched as Harry seemed to get overwhelmed with all the possibilities. 

“Papa, look!” Harry rushed over to a toy sword with a cartoon knight on the packaging. 

“Wow! Just like the knights in your castle. Is that one of your picks?” 

“Yeah!” Harry jumped up and down and swung his sword around. 

“Careful there, babes,” Zayn said with a chuckle. 

He led Harry down through the next aisles while holding the toy sword for him. 

Harry got distracted by a shelf full of race cars that do with his toy race track from home. But he wanted something new and different. He wandered over to a wall of baby dolls.

Harry looked up at Zayn and back to the dolls. “Like me?”

Zayn nodded, enamored with Harry’s perfectly sweet connection. “That’s right. They’re baby dolls just like you’re my baby.” 

“I wanna baby,” Harry said and reached to pull a doll off the shelf. The doll was fairly generic with big blue eyes curly brown hair in a yellow, footed onesie, and even tho it was still in a box, Harry hugged the box to his chest. “My baby,” 

“What is your baby’s name?” 

“Umm... Mattie!”

“Can Papa take a picture of you and Mattie?”

Harry nodded eagerly and held the box holding the doll close to his face while he grinned so big his eyes shut. 

Zayn immediately set the picture to be his phone’s wallpaper and sent it to Louis. 

**”Looks like we’re grandpas!”**

Louis didn’t text back right away, Zayn knew he wouldn’t, he was still with his client at that moment but he knew it would make for a happy surprise to find was his meeting was over. Zayn could already imagine Louis’ response falling along the lines of pointing out to Zayn that since he bought the doll for Harry soon they are going to have to buy all sorts of accessories for the doll. 

Speaking of accessories, Zayn noticed Harry staring at the shelves full of hair accessories and little-safe face paints and play-makeup. 

“Papa, what’s this?” Harry asked, picking something up off the shelf and holding it out to Zayn. 

“That’s called nail polish. It’s like paint but you just put it on your fingernails to make them pretty colors.”

“Can I color my nails?” 

Zayn weighed the option. He had told Harry that he would buy two toys and he did not plan on exceeding that so that there was some semblance of boundaries and he wouldn’t feel like he was spoiling Harry _too_ much. But nail polish also was really a toy, at least not in the same way as the toys Harry had chosen. Not to mention today was all about “Harry’s Choice” 

“Sure, sweet pea. In fact, why don’t you pick out three colors? One for you, one for me, and one for Daddy when he gets home.”

Harry grinned and nodded before looking at the shelf to closely examine all of the colors available. Eventually, he decided on pink for himself, gold for his papa, and purple for his daddy. With the nail polish picked out, Zayn picked Harry up and carried him to the register to check out, stopping in the restroom to change Harry’s diaper before leaving the store entirely and heading home so Harry could take his afternoon nap. 

Louis called a little after dinner time. Zayn was sitting with Harry at his craft table in the playroom. The table was cover with paper towels as Zayn carefully coated Harry’s nails with polish. Zayn set his phone to speakerphone and placed it on the table. 

“Hey, babe, I got you on speaker. 

“Is Harry there?” Louis asked right off the bat. 

“I Daddy!” Harry called out from behind his pacifier, Zayn was worried Harry would be tempted to stick his fingers in his mouth while the lacquer was still wet.

“Hi, my sweet boy! Have you had a fun day with Papa?” 

“Mhm! Got toys!” 

‘I saw your picture with your new baby doll, how exciting! What are you and Papa doing right now?”

“Papa’s pain’in’ my fingers!” 

“We bought some nail polish along with the new toys,” Zayn translated. “Even got a color for you, babe”

“Oh, I can’t wait to see,” Louis chuckled. “I’m calling because we are still negotiating. I’m not sure if I am going to be home before bedtime. So just in case, Harry, Daddy loves you so much! Keep being so good for Papa. Sweet dreams, alright?” 

“Love you more, Daddy,” Harry said, even though he was disappointed that his daddy wouldn’t be home soon. “We paint your fingers tomorrow, okay?” 

“Sounds like a plan. I have to go now. Good night, Harry. Bye, Zayn, love you!” 

“Love you too,”

“Bye bye Daddy!” Harry called out as Zayn pressed the red button on his phone screen.


	9. Chapter 9

“Tell me again what we are doing here, Harry.” Zayn said softly.

Harry did not look up from Honey, who was held tight in his arms. 

“Harry, babe, please look at Papa,” Zayn said, shifting the little on his lap. 

Today was Harry’s appointment with little-and-child-psychologist Dr. Harrington. Harry’s nerves had not been an issue in the morning or even during the car ride, but as he sat in his Papa’s arms he began to shrink in on himself. Louis had just finished the process of filling out Harry’s paperwork and was standing at the receptionist’s desk to hand it in and ask a few questions, and Harry did not appreciate his daddy not staying next to him. 

“Gonna go talk to a doctor.” Harry whispered. 

“That’s right.” Zayn smiled. “You’re my brave, smart boy.”

“Daddy and you gonna talk to him too?” Harry asked, finally looking up and meeting Zayn’s eye. 

“Only for a tiny bit at the beginning and the end. This is all for you to feel better, so you are going to be the one talking with Dr. Harrington.” 

“Talk about what?” 

“You can talk to him about whatever you want. He will probably ask you some questions and all you have to do is tell him the truth. And Daddy and I know you can do that because you are such a good boy.” Zayn poked Harry’s nose with a grin, getting a shy smile from his baby. 

Louis returned and sat in the chair next to Zayn. He glanced around the waiting room. It wasn’t terribly crowded but there were enough people to have Louis worried about how long they would have to wait. 

“Harry would you like a paci?” He asked, both because he wanted to make sure Harry stayed soothed while waiting, and because Harry had already begun to gnaw on Honey’s floppy ear. 

Harry nodded and held his hand out toward Daddy, happily accepting his bright blue pacifier covered in daisies that he immediately slid between his lips. Then he set his head down to rest on Zayn’s shoulder and both daddies let him be as they all waited. 

It was nearly fifteen minutes later before the family was called back.

“Harry?” A woman with a clipboard called from the door by the receptionist’s desk. 

Harry looked up from where he was playing pattycake with his daddy. 

“Ready?” The woman asked with a gentle smile.

Louis nodded as Harry looked at him expectantly, unsure how to respond. 

“Time to get up,” Zayn whispered in Harry’s ear and gently urged him to stand up. Zayn grabbed the diaper bag from where he had it stashed under his chair. Harry lifted Honey to rub the stuffed puppy’s soft fur against his cheek as his daddies led him toward the door, so they could all follow the woman. 

Through the door was a hallway with doors marked with different specialists’ names, except the first door on the left that was labeled “Check-Ups”, which was the one the lady opened.

“First, we are just going to double check how Harry here is doing physically,” She explained to Louis and Zayn. 

Then she turned to Harry. “Hi Harry, my name is Lillian,” She spoke in a lighter tone. “That is a lovely puppy dog you’ve got there. What’s his name?”

“Honey,” Harry whispered. 

“Well, Honey seems like a very good dog coming to the doctor with you.”

Harry smiled and nodded. 

“Before you go talk to Dr. Harrington, I need to check a few things. Like how much you weigh and how tall you are. Since Honey came all the way with you, do you want to help me check these for him too?”

“I help?” Harry asked, as if he misheard her.

“Yes!” Lillian cheered. “First; we need to check how much he weighs, so if you could just set him down on this scale I’ll show you how it works.”

Harry was hesitant but set his large stuffed animal on the scale before watching Lillian adjust the measurements at the top of the scale. 

“So, Honey weighs thirteen ounces. Now, Harry can you please help Honey stand here so we can see how tall he is?”

Harry nodded, looking very proud of himself and he did exactly that.

“And he is thirty-one centimeters tall!” Lillian said, Louis and Zayn both noticed that Lillian actually wrote down Honey’s weight but not his height, though they didn’t realize why until she was instructing Harry to stand on the analog scale himself with Honey still in his arms. While still a soft toy, Honey was a fairly large soft animal, they were expecting Harry to have to hand him off to one of them for an accurate measurement of his weight. Thankfully, Lillian, as a nurse in a facility for children and littles, must be used to avoiding meltdowns when patients have to part with comfort items, even for as quick as it is to stand on the scale. Louis and Zayn are both thankful for her little trick of simply subtracting the little bit of weight Honey added to Harry’s result for a more accurate record and a happier little.

Harry does a good job of standing still for Lillian as she marks down his weight and height. Lillian then takes the time to check Harry’s heartbeat and blood pressure. Harry did not like the feeling of the tight cuff around his arm, but he did his best to not whine. 

“Now, he is up to date on all his vaccines, correct?” She turned to ask Zayn and Louis.

Zayn nodded. “The center we adopted him from double checked his records and already had those covered. He is due for a booster soon, but not today.” Zayn glanced at Harry, who was obliviously whispering something to Honey. He was not looking forward to taking Harry in for _that_ doctor’s appointment.

Lillian nodded with an understanding glint in her eyes. “Then you are good to go. Everything’s right as rain. You were a great helper, Harry,” Lillian praised as she opened the door for the family. “Dr. Harrington’s office is the last door on the right. You can go on in.” 

They found themselves in a room that reminded Harry of a long time ago when he first met Miss Perrie. There was a soft couch and two plush armchairs. The floors were hardwood but there was a soft rug covering most of the space between the seating. On the back wall of the room there was a large mirror with a simple black frame next to a door.

“Hello.” A man stood from where he was seated in one of the armchairs. “I’m Dr. Harrington. You must be Mr. Tomlinson and Mr. Malik. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He shook each of the caregivers’ hands. 

“Likewise. Please, call me Louis. This is my husband, Zayn. And our little, Harry,” Louis said after happily shaking the man’s hand. 

“Hello Harry,” Dr. Harrington crouched down a bit, so he was more in Harry’s eye level. “My name is Silas.”

“Hi,” Harry mumbled behind Honey’s head. Dr. Harrington did not seem at all fazed by Harry only barely interacting with him, and simply stood back up, still smiling warmly at the entire family. 

“Please, have a seat.” He motioned to the couch. Zayn gave Harry’s hand a light squeeze and urged his little to walk over to the couch. Harry sat down on the middle cushion and let out a happy hum at how soft the couch was and quickly scooched up, so his back would be resting against the soft cushion behind him, leaving his feet dangling over the floor. Zayn set the diaper bag on the floor next to the couch and sat to the left of Harry and Louis sat to the right.

“So, I thought we could start with simple introductions, and get to know each other. Due to the importance of Harry’s testimony for the court case, and since he and I haven’t had any prior sessions, I have cleared out the rest of my schedule for the day, so there’s no need to worry about rushing,” He spoke directly to Zayn and Louis before looking to Harry. “And if at any point you need a break, Harry, because you’re hungry or uncomfortable, or just want your daddies, you can say so and we’ll take a break, alright?”

Harry flitted his eyes back and forth between staring at the floor and making eye-contact with Dr. Harrington. He knew grown-ups like it better when you look at their eyes for some reason, but he never liked doing it for too long. He nodded and gave a slight hum because he wanted to be good and let the doctor know he really was listening. 

“Harry, I need you to use your words while we talk to each other.”

Harry frowned and looked up to Zayn and Louis. 

“Remember when Papa and Daddy told you about this, angel?” Zayn whispered. “We need to talk about the things that make us sad.” 

Harry whined but nodded to himself. “Okay,” He said before looking back at Dr. Harrington. 

“And, ideally, this conversation will be solely between Harry and myself,” The psychiatrist said. He motioned to the mirror behind the family. “Through that door is a small waiting room. It’s a two-way mirror and you will be able to hear whatever is said, I assure you.”

Harry’s brow furrowed as he processed what Dr. Harrington said. “By myself?” He asked, looking up at Zayn and hugging Honey tighter. 

“That’s right, my smart boy. Daddy and I will wait right behind that door, so you can talk.” Zayn rubbed a reassuring hand up and down Harry’s arm. “And remember, if you need a break at all, or a diaper change, or a snack you can just say so and we can come get you.” 

“So, how about a kiss for Daddy and Papa while we go wait, okay?” Louis added. He knew that if they let this become a discussion that Harry would talk himself out of it. 

“Okay,” Harry said in a small voice and gladly gave his daddies quick kisses on their cheeks and accepted several in return all over his face from Louis, making him giggle. 

Zayn and Louis stepped through the back door and Harry turned his attention back to Dr. Harrington, though the little quickly averted his gaze back down to the floor.

“My first few questions are about your puppy,” Dr. Harrington explained. “What’s its name?”

“Honey,” Harry answered easily, though he still avoided any eye contact with Dr. Harrington. 

“And where did you find Honey?”

“At the store. Daddy and Papa took me there and let me pick him.”

“When was that?”

“Uh... “ Harry trailed off blankly, he had a hard time understanding time. He knew that he got Honey very soon after he was adopted, but he wasn’t sure how exactly how long ago that was. “Not sure. A while ago.” 

“Is Honey your favorite toy?” 

Harry nodded and smiled. “But I like my castle, and my baby Mattie, oh and my race cars too!”

Dr. Harrington smiled warmly. “Wow, it sounds like you have a lot of toys.”

“Yeah, Honey and Mattie get to stay in my room with me, but my other toys stay in my playroom. There’s lots in there.” 

“I’ll bet your playroom is a lot of fun. Who is Mattie?”

“Papa said Mattie’s a baby doll when I got him at the store. So, I’m Papa and Daddy’s baby, and Mattie is _my_ baby,” Harry explained. 

Dr. Harrington nodded. “Do you like being your daddies’ baby?” 

“I love my daddies,” Harry said. He had a big smile on his face, and his voice was confident. Even though he didn’t technically answer Dr. Harrington’s question, Louis and Zayn stood on the other side of the two-way mirror beaming at their little boy. 

“That’s what I like to hear.” Dr. Harrington nodded, accepting Harry’s response as an answer given how indicative it was of Harry’s feelings toward his place as a little with caregivers. “Can you tell me about your daddies? What are some of your favorite things about them?”

“They love me, and they give me kisses and wash my hair for me in the bath,” Harry began to list off. So far, everything Dr. Harrington had asked him was easy to answer, and now that he was more comfortable with the psychiatrist he was starting to be more talkative. “Daddy is best at reading bedtime stories, and he’s gots a job. So sometimes I can’t play with Daddy because he’s workin’. But it’s okay a’cause I play with Papa and he likes doing crafts. Oh! And singin’! Daddy and Papa both sing really pretty and sing songs wit’ me.” 

“Who else plays with you? Other than your daddies?”

“Niall,” Harry grinned. “Niall’s my _favorite_. We play cooking and Paw Patrol. Uncle Liam buys Niall the coolest toys, and-and Niall always shares.” 

“Well, Niall sounds like a wonderful friend.” Dr. Harrington jots a couple of notes down onto his pad of paper. “Do you have other friends you play with?” 

“Uncle Liam likes to play superheroes,” Harry added. “And Papa told me soon me and Niall are gonna start goin’ to Play… Play Something… I forget. But Niall said he been before and it’s fun and there’s lots of friends there.”

Dr. Harrington nodded as he listened to all Harry had to say after each question about his everyday life and how each new experience with Louis and Zayn had made him feel. “Alright Harry, I have a couple of more things that I’d like to ask you. But before that, if there anything you need right now? Are you hungry? Or wet?”

Harry chewed his lip but nodded. “Need a change.”

Dr. Harrington just nodded, not even needing to respond because he knew before he would say anything of worth, Zayn and Louis would reenter the room. And that’s exactly what they did.

“Hello, Harry Babe,” Louis said with a grin as he happily lifted Harry off the couch. 

“Hi Daddy.” Harry snuggled into Louis’ shoulder. “”M wet,’ He mumbled. Louis let out a soft chuckle and nodded. 

“Let’s go fix that.” Louis carried Harry out of the room as Zayn followed with the diaper bag. 

“You are doing such a good job in there, sweet pea.” Louis says as he gets to work changing his little. 

Harry just hummed happily in response and stuck his fingers in his mouth, holding Honey tight against his chest with his other hand. Once Louis had Harry all clean, he picked up the fifteen-year-old and kissed both of his cheeks and his nose before passing him over to Zayn. 

“Hi Papa,” Harry said as he wrapped one arm around the back of Zayn’s neck. “Time for home?” 

“Not yet, Harry,” Zayn answered. “Remember? Dr. Harrington still has a couple of questions he needs to ask you, and they’re very important.”

Harry let out a long, low whine. “I wanna go now,” He rested his forehead on his arm hanging over Zayn’s shoulder and mumbled more about going home.

“Hey now,” Zayn whispered, getting Harry to look at him. “Were you having a good time talking to Dr. Harrington?” He asked at a normal volume once he was sure he had Harry’s attention.

“I guess,”

“He’s nice, isn’t he?”

Harry nodded. “He likes Honey,”

“Well thank goodness,” Zayn couldn’t help but smile, especially when he looked and saw his husband with a similarly fond expression. “So, we can wait a little while longer before Daddy and I let you go back to answering questions, but I want you to keep being our good, brave boy and answer as many as you can, alright?” 

“Wait a little?” Harry asked. 

“Yes, baby, we can wait a bit.” Zayn smiled and bounced Harry on his hip. Harry smiled back and pressed a kiss to Zayn’s cheek. 

“Paci?” 

“Okay, but you’ll need to take it back out later, so you can keep talking with Dr. Harrington,” Louis shifted the diaper bag on his shoulder, so he can pull one out for his little. 

“Hmmph,” Harry hummed

“Uh uh, little man. You need to use your words and let Daddy know you understand before you get your paci,” Louis said, making sure to be stern.

Harry hesitated before speaking. “I get it till I go talk some more. And then I get it back later?” 

Louis smiled. “Of course, you’ll get it back later. Thank you for listening.” He placed a simple pale-yellow pacifier in Harry’s palm.

Harry quickly stuck the soother in his mouth.

The little family returned to the room where Dr. Harrington was quietly reading over his notes. Zayn walked with a slight bounce in his step to further sooth Harry. 

“Do you have any fun plans for this weekend?” Dr. Harrington asked, addressing Louis and Zayn.

“We do actually,” Louis answered with a grin. “We are taking Harry over to our good friend Liam’s home to play with his little, Niall, it will actually be a sleep over so Zayn and I can have ourselves a date night. And then Saturday we will all have brunch together at Liam’s home. We are excited for a couple of reasons. Not the least of them being we get to see how Harry will do while we are…” Louis glanced at Harry where he was poking and pulling at the buttons of Zayn’s shirt. He didn’t think Harry is paying this ‘grown-up talk’ any attention, but he decided to play it safe either way. “While we’re a-w-a-y.”

“Ah,” Dr. Harrington nods knowingly. “Well if what we’ve talked about so far is any indication, I predict it will go fairly well. I can make no promises for the first few minutes when he catches wind of the plan, but I’m sure he’ll do great.” 

“It is reassuring to hear that,” Zayn said. “I’ll still be stressing over everything, but it is very nice hearing that.” 

“Honestly, it would be more alarming if you didn’t stress over this,” Dr. Harrington comments with a smile. 

Louis and Zayn chatted with Dr. Harrington for a few minutes while they let Harry simply cuddle with his daddies. 

But it wasn’t long before Louis asked Harry to give his pacifier back, so he and Dr. Harrington could finish talking. 

Harry had a slight frown but made no complaints as he handed over his paci. Zayn slowly set the little back onto the couch, but Harry immediately stood back up. 

“Wait,” He said urgently, grabbing Zayn’s sleeve. He tugged so that Zayn would lean down closer. Once his papa was close enough, Harry placed a quick kiss to his cheek. Zayn grinned before returning a sweet kiss to his baby’s lips. 

“Ahem,” Louis cleared his throat jokingly. “Can Daddy get one of those too?” 

Harry had no hesitation standing on his tiptoes to kiss Louis on the cheek. “Thank you so much, baby.”

Louis kissed Harry on the forehead before following Zayn into the observation room. 

“Now, Harry, we talked a lot about all the fun you have at home with your daddies and your friends, but I want to talk about the places you used to live. Where did you live before you lived with your daddies?” 

“Ummm, I forget what it was called, but it was nice.”

“The people there were nice?” 

Harry nodded. “Yeah, there was Miss Perrie and Miss Caroline and Mister Nick, they were all super nice.” 

“Ah, the little’s home,” Dr. Harrington processed. He knew Perrie very well as they had been working together closely for the trial. “I’ll bet that was nice meeting lots of other little boys and girls.” 

“Uh huh, lots of friends.” Harry smiled.

“What about before the little’s home? Where did you live before there?” 

Harry’s smile fell. He hugged Honey tighter to his chest and avoided looking Dr. Harrington in the eye.

“Harry,” Dr. Harrington spoke in a low, soft voice. “It’s okay. Take your time.” 

Harry pulled his legs up onto the couch, hiding behind his knees as he shifted Honey to block his mouth. Dr. Harrington waited, but Harry only continued to retreat. The fifteen-year-old had one of Honey’s soft ears in his mouth, and he started shaking his head as tears came to his eyes. 

“It’s okay Harry, your safe. I want you to take your time. Don’t talk until you feel ready. Just remember that nothing bad will happen, no matter what you say. And if you can tell me about it, not only can I help you feel better, but it can also help make sure that no one else can be hurt by them like you were.”

Harry inhaled sharply through his nose and pulled Honey’s ear from his mouth. “It was small,” He mumbled. “Didn’t have my own room there. Had to share everythin’. Like clothes and beds and food.”

“Who did you share with?” 

“Sometimes Avery. Mostly Peter. He’s younger than me but ‘m small. Always called me small.”

“Who called you small?” 

“Mr. an’ Mrs. Cowell,” Harry barely managed to speak above a whisper. “Called me lots’a bad names too,” 

“Did any of the other children you lived with do this too? Or just your foster parents?” 

“No, just them. They- they called everybody mean things,” 

Dr. Harrington went on from there, carefully broaching each aspect of Harry’s former life in his last foster home. He always gave Harry all the time he needed to form his answers. And after certain answers, he made sure to reassure Harry and explain to him how nothing that happened to him was his fault. Roughly an hour and a half passed, and Dr. Harrington felt satisfied both with the information he needed for the court case and the closure Harry was getting by confronting his past. 

He signaled for Zayn and Louis to come back from the observation room. Zayn was the first to sit down next to Harry and the fifteen-year-old immediately, almost blindly, attached himself to his papa’s side and nuzzled into his chest. 

“Paci,” He whined, not forgetting what Louis had promised him. 

And Louis had thought ahead. He had Harry’s plain yellow paci in his hand and quickly pressed it Harry’s lips. The little boy happily accepted it and returned to burying his face in Zayn’s shirt. 

“Well, this has been a very productive session.” Dr. Harrington closed his notebook. “Harry, thank you for talking with me. I know it wasn’t easy, you were very brave to do this.” He turned to face Zayn and Louis. “If at any point you two notice Harry might be in need of more counseling, please don’t hesitate to place an appointment. It’s my opinion he is in an excellent environment, and so long as he stays in a good place emotionally his path to full recovery is clear.” 

“Thank you again,” Louis said.

“Yes, thank you so much,” Zayn chimed in, patting Harry’s back rhythmically as he stood from the couch. Louis followed suit and hefted the diaper bag onto his shoulder. 

Louis shook Dr. Harrington’s hand before the little family left the room and headed back down the hallway to wrap up their visit. 

Zayn placed Harry in his car seat and noticed the boy’s eyelids drooping. When he climbed into the passenger seat of the SUV he plugged his phone in to play some music, quickly scrolling through his playlists for the one labeled ‘Lullabies’. Harry was asleep before the car was fully out of the parking structure. 

;;

“Where are they, Daddy?” Niall asked, tugging on Liam’s arm. Harry was coming over today, and he was going to _sleep over_. Niall was elated. He had been waiting for weeks for a sleepover with Harry at his house! He’d slept over at Harry’s before. He had even slept over before Uncle Lou and Uncle Z adopted their baby! But now it was his turn to have a sleepover at his house and he was so excited he was jumping up and down as he waited for his daddy to answer. 

“They’ll be here a little before lunch, bug. Please don’t pull on Daddy,” Liam answered easily. He was working at his computer and Niall knew he had to be careful to not push on Daddy’s arms while he was typing, but sometimes he got so excited he’d forget about stuff like that. 

“Oops, sorry, Daddy,” The little boy said right away. He knew he wouldn’t get in trouble for something as little as tugging, but he knew his manners. He was a very smart little, everyone said so, even Harry! “How far away is lunch? Is it soon? What are we gonna eat? Can we have fish sticks?” 

“Sure, baby.” Liam reached over and rubbed Niall’s cheek. The little boy leaned into the touch. “We can make fish sticks with tater tots and peas and carrots.”

“And chocolate milk?”

“Hmmmm, I don’t know…” Liam said with a teasing lilt. 

“ _Please_ Daddy?” Niall drew out his words before giggling as Liam poked his tummy. 

“We’ll see, sweets,”

“Is it almost lunch time now?” Niall bounced on his tiptoes. 

Liam made a few last clicks on his monitor before turning the screen off and swiveling his chair to face Niall directly. He stood up, sliding his hand under the boy’s arms to lift him up. He tossed Niall up and caught him, making the little laugh. He carried Niall to the living room and the two set up Niall’s Legos, effectively distracting the baby while they waited for their guests. 

Niall was running around Liam with a spaceship he built. The rocket noises he was making distracted him from the doorbell. Liam stood up from the carpet to go to the door.

“Daddy, where you going?” Niall stopped in his tracks, then the doorbell rang again, and Niall dropped his Lego spaceship. “They’re here!” He jumped up and down before running after Liam as they headed to the door. 

Liam opened the front door just as the doorbell rang once again, Harry was standing in front of his daddies with his finger on the doorbell. 

“Niall!” Harry said with a grin, mispronouncing the name thanks to the pacifier in his mouth. He looked up at his daddies for permission to go into the house and they both smiled fondly. 

“Come on in, H,” Liam said and stepped aside for Harry to enter the house and quickly wrap his arms around Niall.

“Hi! Hi Harry!” Niall cheered. “Now it’s lunch time!” He grabbed Harry’s hand and led him to the kitchen. The three adults all chuckled at Niall’s enthusiasm and followed.

Liam, Louis, and Zayn supervised and instructed the littles where to pour the frozen fish sticks and tater tots and the fresh vegetables on to large tray pans and how to sprinkle on the salt and pepper. Liam handled drizzling olive oil on everything beforehand. Niall whined that he didn’t get to help, but Liam just shushed him gently. He did not want to see what would happen if he let Niall handle the olive oil. Even though Niall’s headspace was slightly older than Harry’s and his coordination was a bit better, Niall was still a toddler-aged little and could be very messy.

While the food was cooking, Niall and Harry played with Niall’s Legos in the living room. 

“Boys, come here,” Zayn called from the kitchen when the oven timer read three minutes left. 

“Food ready?” Harry asked from behind his pacifier. 

“Not just yet, baby.” Louis answered. “First you two need to wash your hands. And pick out your drinks.” 

The littles nodded and toddled over to the kitchen sink where Zayn helped them take turns scrubbing their hands clean. 

Harry pushed his pacifier out of his mouth, letting it fall and get caught by the strap pinned to his shirt. “C’n I have grape juice, Papa?” 

“Sure thing.” Zayn booped Harry’s nose and went to pull the boy’s Finding Nemo sippy cup from the diaper bag to fill it with grape juice from Liam’s fridge. 

“What do you want to drink, Niall? Grape juice?” Zayn asked before opening the fridge, ready to return the carton if Niall said no. 

“No! Chocolate milk please!” 

Zayn looked to Liam, who was pulling the tray of food out of the oven. Liam shook his head, a smile playing on his features. 

“Niall, bug, no chocolate milk with lunch. Okay? Maybe later today.”

Niall pouted, but he knew he wouldn’t get his way even if he whined. “Regular milk?”

“Sure, babe,”

Zayn nodded and pulled the milk carton from the fridge and took one of Niall’s sippy cups from the cupboard. 

Louis found bibs for both littles while Liam put the cooled down food on plates for everyone. 

Harry and Niall got to sit in big boy chairs at the dining room table with their daddies instead of in high chairs and they both were grinning as they sat down and waited for their food. 

The boys both cleared their plates for the most part, happy to eat the food all by themselves without help from their daddies.

Near the end of the meal, Niall let out a burp, leaving some milk dribbling down his chin. Harry was taking a sip of his grape juice as it happened, but the fifteen-year-old immediately burst out laughing. This resulted in his grape juice spilling out of his mouth and directly onto his bib and lap. Niall barked out a laugh in response. 

Louis was hiding his own laughter as Zayn looked to Liam and whispered. “Have fun cleaning them both on your own,” 

“Oh, that’s low,”

“Relax, I’m kidding.” Zayn stood and went to find the diaper bag Louis left in the kitchen, bringing it over with him as he fished out some baby wipes and wiped down Harry’s chin and cheeks first and then Niall’s. Both boys tried to wiggle away as Zayn wiped away the food and drink. “Now, come here,” He said as he removed Harry’s bib and lifted the boy to carry him to Niall’s nursery for a change. 

Harry’s brow furrowed as he was set on his feet next to the changing table. “‘M not wet, Papa,” He protested. 

“I know, sweet pea. But you got some juice on your clothes, so I’m just gonna help you change your pants, not your diaper.” 

“Oh,” Harry smiled and put his pacifier back in his mouth as Zayn pulled out some pajama bottoms from the diaper bag. He helped Harry step out of his shorts and picked the little up to sit on the changing table, so he could easily pull on his soft, musical instrument patterned leggings. 

“Do you want to go ahead and change into the shirt, too?” Zayn held up the matching, pale green t-shirt with the words ‘Daddy’s Little Music Maker’ on the front. 

Harry narrowed his eyes just slightly. “Not bedtime yet?” 

“No, Harry, it’s not bedtime. You don’t have to wear the shirt yet if you don’t want to.” 

“I’ll wear it,” 

Zayn nodded and unclipped the pacifier from Harry’s yellow t-shirt, pulled it off over his head, helped the little slip on his matching pajama top, and finally clipped the pacifier strap to the new shirt. Zayn picked Harry up off of the changing table and set him on his hip with a kiss placed on his son’s cheek. 

Back in the dining room, while they waited for Zayn and Harry to return, Niall was telling his Uncle Louis a story about the time his Daddy took him to the movie theater to see a ‘Big Boy Movie’ and Louis was grinning as Niall told him all he remembered from the plot of the latest Avengers movie. And even tho Louis had seen it, he reacted to Niall’s story as if it was entirely new to him. 

Niall was most of the way through his synopsis when Zayn walked in and set Harry back on his feet. 

“Oh, careful now, Niall. Harry and Uncle Z haven't seen the movie yet!” Louis said, his eyes wide and a finger pressed to his lips. 

Niall gasped and covered his mouth with both hands, he would hate to spoil such a cool movie for them. 

“Harry, do you wanna play superheroes?” The little turned to his friend. 

“Okay!” 

Niall jumped from his chair. “Can we go downstairs, Daddy?” He asked Liam. Since Niall’s playroom was in the basement, the stairs have little-gates at the top and the bottom steps, so Niall needs to ask for help before he enters or leaves the basement. 

“Absolutely,” Liam grinned. 

“Here, Li, I’ll clear the dishes, you and Zayn can take the littles downstairs.” Louis stood and started to gather the plates. 

“Thanks, Lou.” 

“Come on, babes,” Liam led the littles and Zayn to the basement door. Once Liam unlocked the little-gate Harry frowned and raised his arms up toward Zayn. 

“What’s wrong, Harry?” Zayn asked. “Why the frown?”

“Not ‘upposed to go down stairs by myself,” Harry murmured, avoiding eye contact. “Scary…” He whispered, hoping Niall wouldn’t hear him. 

Zayn smiled and settled Harry onto his hip. “Papa’s got you,”

Liam unlocked the little-gate at the bottom of the stairs and Niall rushed past him and started to dig through his dolls and action figures for his superhero toys. Zayn set Harry down and watched as his baby toddles over to help Niall. Zayn relocked the little-gate and joined Liam on the couch against the far wall to chat as they watched the boys play and wait for Louis. 

“A little help,” Louis calls out from the second little-gate. He was fidgeting with the lock mechanism. Liam stifled a laugh, rather poorly, at his friend struggling with a device meant to confound children, not grown men. 

“Daddy!” Niall admonished. “It is not nice to laugh at friends!” 

Liam schooled his expression. “You are absolutely right, bug,” 

“Now you gotta say you’re sorry,” 

Liam could not help his goofy smile as his little coached him on manners. 

“I’m very sorry for laughing at you, Louis.” Liam stood and walked over to unlock the little-gate. 

Louis wanted to flip Liam off, or make a joke at his expense, but he knew both Niall and Harry were watching the exchange, so he forgave Liam and accepted the hug Liam offered. He followed Liam back to the couch and sat close to Zayn. 

“So, what are we playing, boys?” Louis asked Harry and Niall. 

“Superheroes!” Both boys cheered. The adults happily watched the littles play their game as they relaxed and caught up. 

Soon, Zayn glanced at his phone. “Oh,” He spoke softly, so Harry would not be able to hear. “We should get going if we want to go home and change and still make our reservations.” 

“We’ve still got time,” Louis countered. 

“Louis, we’ve got to do it eventually,” 

“Suppose you’re right, Love.” Louis nodded. “Just rip off the band-aid, huh?” He stood, and Zayn followed suit. Liam stood and picked Niall up to carry him upstairs for a diaper change and to give the others a bit of privacy. 

“Harry, sweets, come give Daddy and Papa some hugs,” Zayn said. Harry didn’t question why his papa made this request. He got up and toddled over and wrapped his arms around Zayn’s torso. When he went to hug Louis, the man lifted him into his arms and pressed kisses all over Harry’s face. 

“We love you so much, Harry. Now Daddy and Papa are going to go eat some grown-up dinner someplace boring, but you’ll stay here are play with Niall and Uncle Liam, alright?” 

Harry’s grin dropped as soon as he heard the word ‘go’. “I-I… you don’t… don’t want Harry?” Tears welled in the boy’s eyes.

“Oh no, sweet pea, don’t say that.” Zayn stepped close to his husband and son and pressed a kiss to Harry’s temple. “We just know you’ll have so much more fun playing here instead of sitting in some restaurant. I promise you will have a great time sleeping at Uncle Liam’s house.” Zayn gently pressed the small of Louis’ back to get him to start walking toward the stairs. Louis did so with an extra bounce in his step to help ease Harry. “You’ll have all your favorite pacis, and your favorite blanket, and Honey with you. And we will call before you go to sleep, so we can all say night-night.”

“You come back?” Harry asked, his small voice still thick with the threat of tears. 

“Of course, baby,” Louis said. “We will be back before you have your morning bottle.”

“But… but…” 

“Hey now, none of that,” Louis whispered gently. “Remember how Niall slept over in your nursery not so long ago?”

Harry nodded. 

“You’re brave like Niall, Harry. Niall slept at our house without Uncle Liam. I know you can do the same.”

Harry hiccupped but he nodded again. He could be brave like Niall. Especially since he would have Niall here with him. “O-okay,” 

“There’s my sweet, brave boy,” Zayn cheered. “How about a few more hugs and kisses before we go?” 

Harry jerked his head up and down frantically. He wrapped his arms around Louis’ neck and nuzzled. 

;;

It had been about a while since Harry’s daddies went away for whatever ‘grown-up dinner’ they had, and Niall was very relieved that Harry was back to his normal, happy self. For the first few minutes Harry would not stop frowning, even when Niall would tickle him! He would laugh but then just go back to moping. But Harry cheered up as Niall thought of more games. And both boys played until they tired themselves out to the point where neither one of them tried to argue when Liam put them down for a nap on an oversized, fluffy blanket in the playroom. 

After their nap, they were in Niall’s nursery. They had spent a while playing with Niall’s Paw Patrol toys, but now they were making food in the pretend kitchen. 

“Harry, my sandwich is too cold!” Niall whined, looking at the concoction he just finished constructing. “Put it in the microwabe for me?” 

“You gotta say please, Niall,” 

“Pretty please put my sandwich in the microwabe?” 

“Okay!” Harry took the haphazardly built plastic sandwich, that included a plastic fried egg, a chicken wing, a slice of avocado, and a piece of pizza between the plastic slices of bread, and he placed it on a small yellow plate. He placed it in the microwave in the toy kitchen and made beeping noises as he pressed the stickers made to look like buttons. After about four second he made another beep noise and pulled the plate out and handed it back to Niall. 

“Thank you!” Niall said. He took a pretend bite out of his sandwich and hummed happily. “What are you going to eat?”

Harry giggled. “I’m gonna make a cake!” 

Niall gasped. “You’re gonna eat cake for dinner?”

“Uh huh!” Harry said as he placed the toy cake in the little oven. 

“Can I have some too?” 

“Yeah!” Harry said. “It’s almost ready,” 

Harry made another beeping noise and opened the little oven to pull out the cake. 

“Wait!” Niall yelped as Harry picked up the toy. 

“What?”

“When you pull foods out of the oven you gotta wear special mittens like my daddy does! Or else your hands get bad burns that hurt a lot.” 

“It’s okay, it’s just pretend. My hands aren’t hurt.”

“I know but still!” 

“Boys,” Liam showed up at the door of Niall’s nursery. “Start cleaning up please. It’s almost dinner time.” 

“Okay, Daddy,” 

;;

Liam had been a little anxious over dinner with both the littles. Niall was a very well behaved little boy, but that didn’t stop him from acting up just for the sake of making his friends laugh. And Harry almost never caused trouble, but separation anxiety can cause even the calmest little to act up. Luckily, dinner went without a hitch and both littles are cooperative. They even helped carry the dirty dishes from the table to the sink. Before Liam washed the dishes, he set them up in the living room with Tarzan playing on the TV. 

Once the plates and glasses were set on a drying rack, he got to work making a surprise for the littles. He went to work and by the time the movie was drawing to a close, he was pulling sugar cookies out of the oven and placing them onto a cooling rack. He had newspapers covering his kitchen island with multiple decorative icings set up for the boys to use. 

“Okay, Niall, Harry, come on in here!” 

The littles raced into the kitchen, careful not to full on run. 

“Cookies?!” Niall almost shouted. 

“That’s right,” Liam chuckled. “We are going to decorate some cookies.” 

Harry started jumping up and down as he giggled in excitement. 

“So, we just need to bring the cookies over to the island. First, Niall why don’t you help Harry pick out an apron?” Liam said before his cell phone started ringing. Liam pulled it from his pocket and frowned. “Pick one out for me too, bug. I’ll be right back.” He said and left the kitchen, pulling his phone to his ear. 

Niall nodded and opened the cabinet where all of his aprons were kept. “I have superhero aprons if you wanna keep playing superheroes. Or we could wear the animals ones? What do you want Harry?” 

“What animals?” 

“I got kitties, and dolphins, and birds, and lions!” 

“No puppies?” Harry frowned. 

“My puppies apron is in the washy machine. Daddy let me help make sauce and it got messy.” 

“Oh, can I have the birdies then?” 

“Okay!” Niall pulled out the bird apron for Harry, the dolphins one for himself, and the kitties one for Daddy. 

The little boys did their best to help the other secure their aprons.

Harry frowned again and looked around, hoping for something to do to help. He looked over at the cooling rack and saw that Liam had set a plate next to it. Harry decided he was going to help and bring the cookies over from the cooling rack to the island. Liam had said the cookies needed to be brought to the island. 

Harry moved to grab one of the cookies. 

“Ow!” He shouted the moment he grabbed one from the edge of the cooling rack. The cookies were still very hot, and his fingertips were starting to look a bright red. Tears quickly filled his eyes and he began to wail. “Ow ow ow!” He babbled as he cried. 

Niall looked on with wide, panicked eyes. Harry didn't touch the stovetop or the oven, so he didn’t understand how his friend had gotten hurt. And Harry’s continued crying only made Niall want to cry alongside him. Liam came rushing back into the kitchen, quickly saying goodbye on the phone. 

“What happened?” Liam posed the question mostly toward Niall, but he hoped Harry would be able to explain. But Harry kept crying, his cries muffled as he stuffed his burnt thumb and pointer and middle finger in his mouth. 

“I-I-I don’t know, Daddy! I promise!” Niall blubbered, on the edge of tears.

“Relax, Niall. You aren’t in trouble. No one’s in trouble.” Liam placed a gentle hand on Niall’s shoulder. Then he shifted his focus on Harry. He very slowly pulled Harry’s fingers out of his mouth. “Can you tell me what happened, Harry?” 

Harry stuttered and wheezed as he tried to respond. “Was tryin’ to-to… tyin’ to help.” He pointed at the cooling rack. “Wanted to help,” 

“Oh,” Liam connected the dots. He carefully steers Harry over to the kitchen sink and turned on the cold tap and held Harry’s hand under the faucet. The baby’s crying died down to the occasional sniffle and whine. 

“Does that feel better now?” Liam asked. Harry’s fingertips still looked a bit pinker than they should, but the little nodded. 

“Want my daddies!” Harry whined.

Liam looked at his watch. Zayn and Louis were likely done with dinner, but he knew they had other plans besides just dinner. And they deserved it, this was their first night alone together since they adopted Harry. But he also knew that if the situations were reversed, and Niall was crying for him the same way Harry is from Zayn and Louis, he would want whoever was watching Niall to call him.

“Niall, baby, do you want to go play in the living room while I call Uncle Zayn and Uncle Lou?”

Niall’s eyes were still wide. “Harry’s gonna be okay?”

Liam smiled at how sweet his little was. “Yea, Bugaboo, Harry’s alright, he’s just going to talk with his daddies a bit, so he’ll feel even better,”

“Okay,” Niall said. He toddled over to wrap his arms around Harry and then gave his daddy a kiss before leaving the kitchen.

Liam pulled out his phone and found Louis’ number.

“Liam?” Louis’ voice came through the phone’s speaker. “Is something wrong?”

“Hey Louis, so I made sugar cookies for the boys to decorate, and Harry picked one up off of the cooling rack while they were still fairly hot.”

“What?” Louis said very suddenly, almost cutting Liam off. “Is he okay?” Liam could hear Zayn asking what was going on from Louis’ end.

“He’s fine,” Liam reassured. “The cookies weren’t fresh out of the oven, we’ve put his hand under cold water and I’m going to wrap some bandages around his fingers while he’s on the phone with you. Here he is.” Liam placed his phone in his Harry’s uninjured hand.

“Daddy? Papa?” Harry whimpered.

“Hey baby boy, we’re here,” Zayn said as Louis set his phone to speakerphone. “Are you okay?”

Harry let out a whine as Liam cleaned his hand and rubbed aloe lotion on the burns. “It stings,”

“We know, sweetheart,” Louis croons. “But Uncle Liam has to help make it better, okay?”

“I bet you’ve had lots of fun with Niall and Liam today, right?” Zayn asks, hoping to distract Harry.

“Y-yeah,” Harry said, and the daddies could tell he was still teary.

“Tell Papa what you did today,” 

“Uh… We played race cars. We napped on the floor, but it was comfy because Niall has a lotta pillows and stuffies. We played with Niall’s kitchen. And we watched Tarzan. And Uncle Liam says we get to decorate the cookies too.” 

“Oh, make sure Uncle Liam takes lots of pictures of the cookies you decorate, okay?” Louis said, getting the little laugh out of Harry he was hoping to hear. 

Liam finished wrapping bandages around Harry’s fingers. Harry started to pull his hand up toward his mouth. Liam gently grabbed his wrist and told him he would get him a pacifier. 

“My hand feels better now,” Harry mumbled. “It’d feel even better with kisses though,” 

“As soon as we see you tomorrow morning, baby boy, we are going to give you all the kisses you want. I promise,” Zayn said. 

“Y-you’ll still call before bedtime, right?” 

“Yes, Harry. You know Papa and I can’t sleep if we don’t say goodnight to our sweet boy. So, go have more fun with Niall and Uncle Liam and we will talk to you again for beddy bye.” Louis said, hoping it would help Harry be okay with hanging up the phone. He loved hearing his little in good spirits again, and part of him was glad Liam made this call, despite the need for it being Harry hurting himself, but he was also eager to get back to his date night with his husband. 

“Okay. I love you Daddy. Love you Papa,” Harry said. 

“We love you too!” The two men spoke at the same time. 

Liam had returned to the kitchen with both a pacifier for Harry, and Niall trailing behind him. 

Harry said goodbye to his daddies and handed the phone back to Liam without pressed the end button. 

“Does your hand still hurt?” Niall asked, staring at Harry’s three bandaged fingers. 

“A little. Can I have my paci Uncle Liam?” 

“‘Course, babes,” Liam held out one of the pacifiers Louis and Zayn packed in Harry’s diaper bag. It was white with a cupcake decorating it. Harry quickly took it and put it in his mouth, happy to have the relief of focusing on something other than his hands. 

“Alright, let’s get started with these cookies!” Liam cheered, making Harry and Niall smile. 

Liam helped fix the bows fastening Niall and Harry’s aprons and donned his own. He used an oven mitt to carry the cooling rack from the counter to the island, even though the cookies were properly cooled down at that point. He knew that the visual of him using the oven mitt would serve as a good reminder form both boys. 

Niall and Harry were guided to their little work stations where they had access to plenty of icing, sprinkles, toppings, and gummy candy in fun shapes. Liam pulled out a box of rubber gloves. He hadn’t intended on using these. But he knew it would work best to keep Harry’s bandages clean. So, he pulled out the box and pulled on a pair for himself and then helped both boys put on their own. 

“Now let’s get to work!” 

Liam had made one dozen cookies, the one Harry had burned his fingers on was dropped onto the floor, so it was thrown away, leaving eleven for the three of them. Both boys were so eager about the activity, he only set two aside for himself to decorate. Harry said that he was drawing his daddies and himself. Three of the cookies in front of him had vaguely-human shapes drawn in colorful icing. Zayn’s face was done with pink and his hair was dark purple. Louis’ face was a smear of green and blue and his hair was wild lines in yellow. Harry then drew himself using a mixture of colors from both. 

Niall wanted to draw all his favorite superheroes, but after he made a spiderman cookie, a flash cookie, and a wonder woman cookie, he got an idea to try and make trucks and cars on his cookies. Harry had moved on to simply trying to see just how many different types of topping he could fit onto one cookie at a time. 

Later, once all eleven cookies were decorated, Liam took multiple pictures of the cookies on their own and of Niall and Harry posing with the cookies.

“Okay now, boys, pick _one_ cookie to eat tonight. It’s almost time to get ready for bed.” 

Harry picked his cookie that had green and yellow stripes that he said made it look like a bumblebee. Niall struggled over the decision but finally landed on his spiderman cookie. 

The boys had made quite the mess decorating their cookies, but clean-up was easy thanks to all of the precautions Liam took, he threw away all of the newspaper and the rubber gloves, put the messy aprons in the hamper, and the dirty utensils in the sink. The boys almost made it unscathed, the only icing on them was on their chins and cheeks from eating their treats. 

“Harry did your Papa and Daddy give you a bath last night?” 

Harry simply nodded, he still had his last bite of cookie in his mouth. 

“Alright, that makes this easier.” Liam pulled a baby wipe from the dispenser he keeps in the kitchen and wiped icing from the littles’ faces. “Now it’s time to brush teeth!” 

Niall led Harry to his bathroom where Liam had already placed Harry’s little travel toothbrush. Niall shared his safe-to-swallow little toothpaste with Harry and the boys did their best to clean their teeth on their own while Liam set up a portable crib in Niall’s nursery. 

“Okay who needs a change?” Liam asked when he saw the littles enter the nursery. 

“Me,” Niall said without hesitation.

Harry nodded after sticking his cupcake pacifier back into his mouth. 

“Come ‘ere then,” Liam says as he lifts Niall into the air. He set his little boy onto the changing table and pulled his shirt up to blow a raspberry on his tummy before getting the work. With a fresh diaper on, Liam changed Niall into his Aladdin pajamas and sent him over to his bed with a kiss to his forehead. 

Liam then set Harry down onto the changing table, but instead of getting straight into it, Liam pulled out his phone. He dialed Louis’ cellphone once again and waited. When he heard Louis pick up, Liam passed the phone to Harry.

“It’s your daddy,” 

“Hi Daddy!” Harry said as soon as he had the phone in his hands, not even holding it to his ear yet

“Harry Berry!” Louis cheered. “Are you ready for your goodnights from me and Papa?” 

“Yes please,” Harry answered past his paci. 

Zayn and Louis sang a quick lullaby over the phone and told Harry how much they loved him and how proud of him they were for sleeping somewhere new. 

“Okay, last night-night, H,” Zayn said. “Time to sleep. Give Honey a big kiss for us and we will see you before breakfast in the morning, alright?” 

Harry yawned as Liam finished taping up his new diaper and pulled his pajama bottoms back up. “Okay, love my daddies,” 

“Love you too, sweet pea,” Louis said. “Goodnight, bye bye,” 

The phone call cut off and Harry handed the phone back to his Uncle Liam and made grabby hands until he had Honey in his arms. 

Liam kissed Harry’s cheek and placed Harry in the crib. Both babies were asleep and snuggled with their stuffies in a matter of minutes.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please comment, especially if you have ideas/suggestions!


End file.
